


The Force of a Dragon

by abbzeh



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: (in the future) - Freeform, Action/Adventure, Canon Rewrite, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Technically?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2018-08-07 17:43:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 59,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7723819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbzeh/pseuds/abbzeh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Lucy joins Fairy Tail, she expects the crazy. What she doesn't expect is the guild's 'family secret' concerning a certain dragon slayer. E.N.D au. Ish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I've already started posting this to ffnet, mostly because I wanted to see how far I could get with it and to see if it was any good or not. Still not sure on the second part, but hopefully it's okay :)
> 
> Title comes from Cry Thunder by Dragonforce.

"So, Hargeon, eh?"

"Aye, sir."

The crowd that had been in front of two figures, one significantly smaller than the other – and also flying with wings but that hardly matters at the moment – dispersed, revealing what appeared to be a boy in his late teens to early twenties, wild salmon hair all over the place. Beside him at eye level was a flying blue cat. Neither of them seemed too concerned that the cat was blue, and that the cat was also flying. The boy turned to his companion.

"Do you think Igneel really is here?"

The blue cat looked thoughtful before speaking next. "Well, they said that Salamander's supposed to be here, right?"

"And who else would Salamander be referring to but Igneel?" the boy finished, determined grin forming on his face. He looked back at his friend. "Come on, Happy!"

* * *

Somewhere further in the port town of Hargeon, Fiore, a girl was walking briskly down the street, an annoyed look on her face as she muttered to herself.

"I can't believe he only knocked off a measly one thousand jewels!" she muttered darkly, glaring at the ground before suddenly stopping. "What good are my feminine wiles if they won't get me decent discounts?!" Such was Lucy's life, anyway. Already three months in and she was spending nineteen thousand jewels on gate keys? Lucy shook her head. It was worth it, all to become a stronger wizard, to join _that_ guild.

A group of girls stampeded past her, leaving a cloud of dust and grit in their wake, screaming at the top of their lungs as they somehow managed to part the crowds with their sheer presence. Lucy blinked. _What the…_

"It's the famous Fairy Tail wizard!"

"Salamander is here!"

Lucy's eyes widened. Salamander? Here, in Hargeon? She looked towards where the group of girls were running to, and she could see a group forming around someone, screaming and squealing the whole time. "That has to be him!" she exclaimed out loud, making a beeline for the group as well, wanting to get a look at the famous Salamander.

Lucy wasn't sure what she was expecting. She didn't know what Salamander looked like, granted, but she was pretty sure that she wasn't expecting him to look like this. Maybe the stories of his exploits had given her images of someone with a wilder look to him, a feistier grin. This guy that the girls were fawning over seemed too – slimy, too angled. And there was an odd feeling buzzing in her head, like cotton wool, almost making her feel compelled to walk up to him like the other girls.

"What the…"

Lucy trailed off, glancing at his hand. There was a ring there, and suddenly she felt her head clear. So that's what it was. She frowned, but before she could think any more on it, the crowd of gaggling girls was suddenly split down the middle by two newcomers. A teenage boy who appeared to be around Lucy's age and a blue cat. Salamander glanced at them, before giving them both a grin.

"Ah! Do you two want autographs as well?" Salamander asked with a flourish. The two stared at him blankly for a second before turning to one another.

"This isn't Igneel," the boy said, sounding disappointed, but also not surprised.

"Aye," the cat replied, tilting its head and looking at Salamander. Lucy stared wide eyed at the cat. _Since when can cats talk?!_

The boy glanced at Salamander, giving him a once over. He smirked, and Lucy felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. "But he ain't no Salamander, either."

A handbag flew at him, and Lucy had to duck to avoid it. "You take that back!"

"Salamander is a great wizard!"

The boy and cat gave the crowd more unimpressed looks, and turned to leave –

\- Only to be dragged back, the boy looked supremely confused. Lucy didn't blame him, and she looked at Salamander's ring again.

"You dared to offend Salamander!"

"Now, now, ladies," Salamander himself said, taking a step forward and flashing what Lucy supposed he thought was a benevolent smile, "I'm sure he didn't mean any harm by it."

A few girls honestly fainted with love struck expressions on their faces.

"Salamander is so kind!"

From nowhere, Salamander whipped out a piece of paper and a pen, signed the paper with a flourish and handed it over to the boy, grinning. "There. Now you can show this off to all your friends!"

"Thanks," the boy said, trying to hand it back, "but I don't want it."

The speed in which the fangirls of Salamander kicked him out of their sacred circle was really amazing and something to behold, and rather than watch Salamander anymore – because really, who disappears on an actual puff of smoke? – she took off after the boy and the cat who had riled up the girls. She learned that their names were Natsu and Happy, treated them to lunch for helping her realise why her head felt like it did around Salamander, and they then parted ways. It was no big deal.

* * *

Natsu and Happy stood on a hill, overlooking the Hargeon port. Just off the shore was a yacht, lit up bright enough to be an eyesore from even here. Whatever, he and Happy were full and content from their meal with Loopy, or whatever her name was.

"You ready to get back home, Happy?" Natsu asked, turning around to lean on the barriers that kept people from falling off the edge up here. He inwardly smirked. As if that would hurt him.

"Aye sir!" Happy affirmed cheerfully, saluting for good measure. Just as he was weighing up the pros and cons of skipping getting the train in favour of the longer, but less painful journey of walking, he saw a group of girls gathered a stone's throw away from Happy and himself.

"Isn't that the Salamander's yacht?" one of them asked, pointing out to the glowing eyesore in the harbour.

"Who's the Salamander?" one of her friends asked, sounding confused.

" _Tch_! He's only the most famous fire wizard in Fiore!"

"He's part of the Fairy Tail guild!"

Natsu froze, blood running cold despite his hot-blooded nature. He had been content to sit around and let this 'Salamander' run around, to an extent, because putting a stop to him was more trouble than it was worth, and both he and Happy were lazy people at heart.

This mention of Fairy Tail, however… Well, that just wouldn't do. As the frozen feeling faded, he felt the air around him heating up, and was vaguely aware of Happy taking a step backwards.

"So he's in Fairy Tail, is he?" he muttered, twisting his torso to look at the yacht, narrowing his eyes at it.

Scoping it out.

* * *

Glaring through her growing tears, Lucy glared at Salamander, trying not to look at his cronies surrounding her, the unconscious girls who had been lured to the yacht just as she had.

"You just use magic to hurt others." Her heart was beating so fast from her rage that it physically hurt her chest, that a wooshing sound that wasn't the ocean filled her ears. "YOU'RE THE WORST WIZARD ALIVE!"

Perhaps she would have said something else. Perhaps Salamander would have said something cocky in response like the slimeball he was, but neither had the opportunity to happen. Instead, what did happen was the roof of the yacht collapsing on everyone. Lucy nearly shrieked.

The debris and dust cleared, leaving someone in its wake. Lucy's eyes widened.

"It's you!"

Natsu's entrance to the yacht would have been significantly more badass, had he not immediately turned a pale shade of green and held his hand to his mouth. Lucy stared.

"This was a bad idea," he ground out, sounding as though he was in a great deal of pain.

"This is the lamest rescue party ever," Lucy informed him, earning a pained death glare in response.

Above the hole left in the ceiling, a winged form suddenly appeared and started hovering. Lucy looked up when the shadow came near her.

"Hi, Lucy!" Happy said cheerfully, floating above the boat, white feathery wings spread. "What're you doing here?"

"This jerk was supposed to get me into Fairy Tail," Lucy said, pointing at Salamander over her shoulder, where he stood watching the unfolding events with a dumbfounded expression. "And instead he – wait, hold on. Since when can you fly?!"

Happy gave her a look. "I'm a blue cat, Lucy. Of course I can fly."

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!"

"Happy!" Natsu said loudly from his spot on the floor, where he appeared to be stuck with his sudden bout of motion sickness. "Take Lucy and go!"

"Aye, sir!"

Before Lucy could even protest, she felt herself being picked up by the back of her dress and carried off the boat and into the sky. "Wait, what about Natsu?" she asked, watching the yacht disappear beneath them.

"I can't carry two people. Besides, Natsu will be fine." A second later, tendrils of purple fire came shooting towards them, looking as though they had every intention of knocking Lucy and Happy out of the sky. Lucy shrieked as Happy flew to avoid them, watching the tendrils collide into dazzling firework displays that lit up the night.

"We have a problem, Lucy," Happy squeaked out, flying more slowly than before. "My transformation's up!"

Lucy felt her stomach leave her body about two seconds before she actually plummeted to the ocean, and it could only be described as 'an odd sensation'. The actual act of breaking the surface, however, was like hitting a brick wall. Lucy sank down, dazed for a second, before beginning to swim up. On a jagged rock, just beneath the rippling surface, she spotted something glinting in the moonlight. Something silver and gold…

No way.

Quickly swimming towards it, she snatched at the ring of gate keys and broke the surface of the water, breathing heavily and staring at her keys happily. "Talk about an amazing coincidence!" she said breathlessly.

"Are you talking to yourself, Lucy?" came a voice from beside her. Surprise surprise, it was Happy. Lucy glared at the water in front of her.

"Shut up, cat."

Taking her gate keys, periodically glancing between the port and the yacht, and hoping she wasn't going to regret calling upon this particular spirit. Taking a deep breath, she stuck the key into the water.

" ** _Open! Gate of the Water Bearer: Aquarius!_** "

* * *

A giant tidal wave and a lot of attempted throwing up later, Natsu found himself standing on top of the wrecked yacht, watching the dumbfounded cronies of 'Salamander' and the man himself try to figure out what had just happened. Admittedly, he had no idea what had just happened either, but now that the pesky ocean was out of the way, it was party time.

"Natsu!"

He recognised that voice as belonging to Lucy, and he had a suspicion that she was the one responsible for the yacht being grounded now. After all, things didn't happen by mere coincidence. For now, though, he ignored her and focused his attention on the proceedings on the broken boat.

"You know," he said, raising his voice so that everyone, including Salamander, would stop talking to look at him, "I was just gonna leave you all alone. After all, you're actually doing me a favour, increasing my rep and all." The air around Natsu began to heat up rapidly. "But bringing Fairy Tail into this?" He took a step closer to the edge, his anger simmering softly beneath his skin. "So you're from that guild, huh?"

'Salamander' smirked up at him, brushing strands of misaligned hair from his very punchable face. "Yeah. What's it to you, you little punk?"

"Let me get a closer look at your face." Faster than anyone around him could quite make out, Natsu threw his maroon, long sleeved jacket off, tossing it aside and paying no mind to where it landed. It wasn't like it mattered anyway. Clothes were easily replaceable. "I'm Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail, and I've never seen your face before!"

"He's in Fairy Tail?!" he heard Lucy gasp, somewhere to the side.

"This is going to be fun," Happy said cheerfully, from somewhere next to her. Inwardly smirking, he steeled his gaze on the would-be wizards.

"Bora, look at his guild mark!" one of his cronies, a large fellow with a crooked nose – how unfortunate – said hurriedly, "He's the real deal!"

"I told you not to call me that!" 'Salamander' – now revealed as Bora – snapped back, looking between the one who revealed him and Natsu.

"Bora, huh?" Natsu tilted his head, looking at him. Yeah, he could see the resemblance now. "Bora the providence, apparently kicked out of Titan Nose a couple of years ago. I didn't even _know_ they kicked people out for bad behaviour, given the company they keep, so congrats on that, buddy." His glare hardened. "But I don't care what you're trying to pull here. I'm not going to let you dirty Fairy Tail's name!"

He began slowly walking forward, not taking his gaze off his target.

Bora smirked. "And you're going to stop me?" A magic circle appeared in front of him as he yelled, " ** _Providence typhoon!_** "

It was all Natsu could do to not smirk at the incoming purple flames charging straight towards him. _They never learn_.

As soon as the flames made contact with him, he could hear the blast around him, vaguely make out Lucy's horrified shout from further away and Bora's gloating to his cronies. For a moment, however, he focused on how weak the flames were, how disgustingly tasteless they were and how they barely even tickled his skin. Honestly, it was like taking a lukewarm shower. Except the lukewarm shower was better.

"The larger the talk, the weaker the man," Bora said from the other side of the wall of fire.

Natsu smirked. Time for the opening act.

With gusto, he began swallowing down the flames that Bora had helpfully supplied him with. "Tch! Are you sure you're really a fire wizard? Because these are the worst flames I've ever tasted!"

It was all worth it to see the horrified looks on their faces. He didn't even know why Bora tried to fight him after that, knowing that he was immune to fire. Especially weak fire like that. In the end, Natsu only ended up destroying the man's yacht, and really, he was doing everyone a favour by destroying that eyesore. He didn't know the rune knights would see it that way as well, though. So for good measure, when preparing to make a getaway, he decided to grab Lucy's hand.

"Where the hell are you taking me?!" Lucy demanded as she was being dragged along behind Natsu and Happy. The latter two exchanged a grin.

"You said you wanted to join Fairy Tail, right?" Happy said, flying just above them. Natsu looked back and saw that Lucy's eyes had gotten wide. It seemed that the implication had sunk in.

He grinned. "So let's go!"


	2. Chapter 2

Returning home to Magnolia after having been on a job for a few days always felt like a welcome relief. To Natsu, there was no greater sight than seeing the guild hall, their emblem resting proudly above the wooden doors, waiting for them, welcoming them home after a job well done. With every passing step, he could see Lucy's eyes filling with more excitement. Happy giggled to himself, and Natsu smiled.

He kicked the door open the moment it was within reach, and shouted, "We made it back alive!"

As expected, there was the good natured groaning in the back, a few raising of glasses, and Elfman shouting, "Just like a real **MAN**!" Natsu turned his head slightly and looked at Lucy, grinning at the look of wonder on her face. Just as he expected from her as well. Fairy Tail was really something to behold when you first saw it.

Turning to her fully, he waited until she had his attention, then said, "Go over to the bar and speak to Mira." He nodded over at the white haired woman smiling and serving drinks, and he grinned at Lucy. "Happy'll go with you. I'm just going to take care of something."

"Wait, you can't just – " Lucy began to say, but whatever else was in that sentence Natsu missed as he made his way through the people and tables of the guild hall and up the stairs, to the second floor.

On the second floor, in the shade of the rafters and the relative privacy from the rest of the guild, the noise seemed to quieten down, dimming to a low hum. Walking over to the requests board, he stared at it, indecision running through him. The low hum helped to calm his mind, but he couldn't decide on a job request. Maybe it was just him. Maybe the jobs for S-Class just weren't good at the moment.

Just as he was about to leave, one caught his eye. _A cursed island, huh?_ Mentally filing that information away for later, he turned at the sound of low chucking, coming from somewhere behind him.

"Back already, Natsu?" Laxus moved out of the shadows, smirking and arms crossed, jacket hanging lazily across his shoulders. "Though I'm not surprised."

"It was hardly even a fight," Natsu shrugged, leaning against the requests board as he brought out the flyer he'd completed, prior to meeting Lucy. "Guy was annoying. I think he was trying to lecture me to death. And don't even get me started on his so-called assassins."

Laxus merely smirked in response, and moved to rest his arm on the bannister. "I don't know why you insist on hanging around with those weaklings, Natsu," he said, observing the guild below them for a moment.

Natsu closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, forcing himself to remain calm. "Just because they're technically weaker than us, Laxus, doesn't mean – "

"That they're weaklings," Laxus finished airily, waving a hand dismissively, "Yeah, yeah." He glanced at Natsu over his shoulder. "I know you tend to do your jobs with Happy – and I'm not saying anything about him so don't you ignite that fist at me! – but you've been on jobs with Titania and Levy before." Laxus gave him a look. "If you want a job partner so bad, dragon breath, then I'm more than happy to oblige. We could even get Mystogan to join in on the fun if he ever sticks around for long enough."

"You have your Thunder Legion always following you around, though," Natsu countered, pointedly glancing to where Bickslow, Freed and Evergreen were sitting, talking quietly amongst themselves. For some reason, Bickslow was doing a lot of flailing.

Laxus shrugged.

"They can take care of themselves for one day."

Natsu had to grin, then. "Alright then, bolt brains. I'll take you up on that at some point."

With a nod and a smirk, Laxus turned back to… whatever he'd been doing in the shadows before Natsu turned up, and Natsu himself made his way down the stairs, making his way towards the bar. Somehow, in the time that he'd spent on the second floor, which was five minutes, maybe ten at the most, another brawl had broken out. He watched from the bottom step as Elfman threw himself into the fray, shouting, "A real man never backs down from a challenge!" Jet and Droy were attempting to shield Levy… by bickering about who was protecting her the most.

And then there was Gray.

"Heard ya were back in town," Gray said, managing to slither out of the fight and stand in front Natsu. "Gonna let me fight you this time, flame brain?"

Natsu yawned and stretched his arms above his head. "Nah."

Gray opened his mouth to respond, probably in the normal, "Why not?" way, but he was interrupted by Cana throwing an empty keg towards him, helpfully shouting, "Gray, your clothes!"

Gray looked down at himself, and his eyes bugged out. "Crap!" He immediately began looking around for his clothes, but in his attempt to try and pick his shirt up off the floor, he accidentally tripped and fell into Levy, knocking her over. Natsu suppressed a smirk at the flash in her eyes.

Before Jet or Droy even had the chance to notice what was happening, Levy was back on her feet and pointing at Gray, shouting, " ** _Solid script: fire_ _!_** "

Natsu turned and made the final part of his journey to the bar, still chuckling at Gray's misfortune. After all, you didn't want to get on Levy's bad side. "Why does he want to fight me so bad, anyway?" he wondered aloud, then shrugged it off. Must be a stripper thing.

He got to the bar in time to hear Mira ask, "What colour would you like your guild mark and where?"

Lucy grinned, her eyes dancing with delight, and replied, "Pink, on my right hand." As soon as she saw Natsu walk up the bar, she waltzed over to him to show her mark. "Look, Natsu. I'm a member of the guild now!"

"Sure, that's great Loopy," Natsu replied absently. Mira gave him a small smile and wandered over to them. "I finished this request, Mira."

Mira nodded, taking the flyer of the request that he'd put on the bar. "I take it the Duke wasn't too much for you?"

Natsu just snorted. "I think the guy tried to lecture me to death. I burnt down his library."

Mira tried to adopt a stern face, but Natsu could see her lips twitching. "Now, now, Natsu. It's not nice to go around burning down libraries, you know."

He shrugged. "I got my job done." Suddenly remembering something, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden key, something that one of the maids had given him after Everlue was arrested. "Say, Loony – "

"Lucy," Lucy ground out, looking annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah," Natsu dismissed, waving his free hand, "You're a celestial spirit wizard, right?"

Lucy blinked, her annoyed look suddenly morphing into confusion. "I – yeah." She looked genuinely startled that Natsu had remembered that piece of information.

"I got this as an extra on my last job, the one I did just before meeting you," he explained, showing her the golden key. He could see her eyes widen even more, and her gaze seemed to focus on it. "I'm not a celestial wizard, so since I have no need of it, why don't you take it?"

"That's a zodiac gate key! That's – wait what?"

Natsu shrugged, grin fading into a more genuine smile. "Here. Consider it a 'welcome to the most awesome guild, we hope you enjoy your stay' gift," he said, handing the key over to her. With shaking hands, she took the key, looking like she couldn't quite believe what had transpired just now.

"Thank you, Natsu," she breathed, looking at the key reverently. After a moment, she attached it to her ring of other keys, and gave him the happiest smile that Natsu had probably ever seen. She might have said more, but gramps chose that moment to finally stop the brawl happening around them, scold everyone for property damage, scold the magic council for sending them bills for property damage – he even burned the bills, much to Natsu's delight. He'd been feeling a bit hungry and there was no better snack than burning council documents – and announce that he was leaving for a guild master's meeting, leaving Mira in charge.

With a cheerful smile, Mira turned back to Lucy. "Now that you're one of us, it's time you learned the family secret we have around here."

Natsu glanced at Happy, who was happily munching away on a fish, and smirked to himself. He loved this part. Lucy looked apprehensive.

"Family secret?" Lucy asked, looking confused. Mira nodded, face shifting into what everyone in the guild referred to as her 'stern mode'. Even Gramps obeyed her when she was like that.

"This is something that can only be talked about with fellow guild members, and no one else." Lucy nodded, and Mira smiled again. "Natsu here is actually a demon."

_Three._

_Two._

_One._

"What?!"

Mira nodded again, picking up a glass and turning briefly to put it away on the shelves behind her. "You wouldn't think so, would you?" Natsu watched Lucy take in the information, absently eating the fire he'd found on a stick like a whirl of cotton candy. He could see questions forming in her brain, like she couldn't decide on which to ask first. He'd had a lot in his time at Fairy Tail, the most common being, ' _why do you have a demon in your guild?_ '

Instead, what came out of her mouth was, "But how can he be a dragon slayer as well?"

Natsu decided to answer that one. "It's complicated, Luigi." Ignoring the look Lucy gave him, he tossed the stick at the bin, "As a demon, I was already pretty in touch with fire. When Igneel found me and taught me slayer magic, the two seemed to strengthen each other, probably because they're both fire based." He paused for a moment. "As for being both, that's a really long story that I can't explain because it hurts my head to think about."

Lucy just stared at him.

"You're the lamest demon ever," she declared, and Natsu shrugged.

"I never said I was a good one."

There was a loud crash from behind them, and the three of them looked in the direction from which it came. Gray had managed to worm his way out of another scuffle that had somehow gotten Max, Laki, Vijeeter and _Nab_ involved, and was staring at Natsu with a fierce look on his face. Natsu sighed, knowing what was going to happen.

"Natsu!" Gray roared, oblivious to his shirtless-and-pantlessness. "Fight me already! **_Ice make: hammer_ _!_** "

With a bored look, Natsu raised a hand towards the incoming projectile heading towards him. The moment the hammer came within touching distance of his fingers, the ice immediately shattered, like ice breaking apart in warmer weather. Lucy let out a screech from his side, and Natsu sent Gray another look.

"Nah," he said, repeating his earlier answer. Honestly, how often was he going to have to repeat himself?

"A real man finishes what he starts!" Elfman yelled, and he unexpectedly yanked Gray back into the fray, throwing wild punches. Natsu snorted at the sight, half tempted to join in. Shaking his head, he turned back to Lucy, only to find her staring at him with wide eyes.

"I take it back," she squeaked out, waving her hands frantically. "You're not lame!"

Happy sniggered from behind his fish. "Yes he is."

Suddenly, the guild hall doors burst open, the loud bang echoing throughout and leaving a silence in its wake. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look to the interruption, to see Loke standing at the doors, looking terrified.

"It's Erza!" he panted, hanging onto the door by one hand, eyes wide behind his glasses. "She's back!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I don't confuse anyone, I'm using both the manga and the anime dub (even though I watch the sub as well, I'm primarily a dub watcher) as the sources. That's why Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen are called the Thunder Legion and not the Thunder God Tribe like in the sub!


	3. Chapter 3

 In the space of a split second, Lucy watched the partial relative calm of the guildhall transform into mass chaos and confusion, complete with shouting and what looked like tears. Everyone who had been in the midst of fighting before immediately broke apart and starting scurrying around, shouting at each other. The only people who didn't seem affected by the sudden change in atmosphere were Mirajane and Natsu, the former of whom was humming away whilst cleaning glasses, and the latter of whom was now leaning against the bar, drinking something that Lucy could feel the heat of, even two seats away.

"Why is everyone so afraid of this 'Erza' person?" she asked aloud, not expecting anyone to answer her in their mad panic.

"She's a monster!" someone shouted from the fray.

"She punishes us!"

"She's the real demon around here!"

"She can destroy mountains!" Gray said, coming to a halt in front of Lucy and looking so serious she didn't know whether to believe her or not. Beside her, Natsu sniggered.

"You might wanna put some clothes on before she gets here, Frosty," he helpfully pointed out, pointing at Gray's boxers for good measure. Gray went even paler, if that was possible.

"CRAP! Has anyone seen my – !"

Whatever Gray was going to ask everyone else was lost in the sound of the heavy guild doors, gently creaking open and allowing sunlight to flood in. The chaos immediately stopped, as though someone had frozen time, and someone slowly began to walk into the guild. Something large and heavy looking was being carried above them, almost like a tooth or tusk of some kind.

The object dropped, and once the light adjusted, Lucy could see the person properly. A woman – probably around Natsu and Gray's age – was standing there, clad entirely in armour, with shocking red hair trailing down her back. It was then that Lucy realised that when they'd all said 'Erza', they'd all meant 'Erza Scarlet, aka Titania'.

"She's really pretty," she mumbled under her breath.

"I have returned," she announced, hand hovering over the sword at her hip. She glanced around her fellow guild members, a stern look in her eye. "Is Master Makarov around?"

"No, sorry," Mira replied, smiling, "He's left for a conference."

Erza nodded. "I see."

Max, one of the wizards Mira had pointed out to Lucy before, timidly raised a hand. "What's that humongous thing you got there, Erza?" he asked, pointing at the tusk-tooth thing. Erza glanced at it before looking back at the guild.

"It's the tusk of a large monster I defeated," she said, as though she was describing something mundane as the weather. "The townspeople were so grateful that they decorated it and gave it to me as a gift." She narrowed her eyes at Max. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No ma'am!"

Erza straightened up, hands on her hips and looked around. She narrowed her eyes, and everyone collectively flinched. Lucy just stared.

"Now listen up. On the road I heard a few things, things about how as of late, Fairy Tail is causing nothing but trouble." Her eyes narrowed further, and the aura around her seemed to turn dark and menacing. Lucy swore she heard a whimper from somewhere in the back of the hall. "Now, Master Makarov might not care, but _I_ most certainly do."

She glanced over to where Cana was sitting, inhaling a keg of ale. "Cana, you need to start controlling your drinking!" Without turning around, "Vijeeter, please take the dancing outside." The guy who had been apparently panic dancing broke out into sweats. She began to walk amongst the tables. "Wakaba, get rid of that filthy habit!" Wakaba's eyes bugged out at having been chosen as a victim. Erza glanced at the request board. "Nab, I suspected I would find you here. Just pick a job!" Her eyes flicked over to Jet and Droy, who immediately started whimpering. "You two, stop bickering whenever you're out on a job! Levy can take care of herself!" She stopped her death march in front of Loke, who was shaking on the stop, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Loke, keep your crowd of fan girls out of the guildhall!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Loke squeaked out, saluting her.

"She's really tearing into everyone!" Lucy squeaked out, staring wide-eyed at the scene playing out in front of her.

"That's Erza for you!" Happy cheered in agreement, appearing beside her with a large grin and fish.

Somehow, through the crowd of petrified people, Lucy spotted Gray trying to surreptitiously find all of his clothes before Erza could root him out. Unfortunately, it seemed Erza had 'trouble maker vision', and she spotted him as well.

"Gray," she snapped, making Gray freeze on the spot, "Fix that stripping habit!"

As Gray ran off to put his clothes back on, now that he didn't need to be secretive about it, Erza turned to Natsu. "I heard some troubling things on my way back here, and ordinarily I would consult the master on this." Erza clenched her fist. "However, the situation is too grave to ignore. Natsu, and Gray, I need your help with something."

* * *

"Uh…"

Lucy wasn't quite sure how she'd ended up here, in Magnolia Station, at an ungodly hour, with Erza, Gray, Natsu and Happy. She fidgeted uncomfortably, eyes flicking between the stare that Gray was giving Natsu, and the mountain of luggage that Erza had brought with her. Lucy could swear she could see a costume sticking out in that thing.

"Why is _he_ even here, anyway?" Gray asked, pointing at Natsu. Somehow in the process, he managed to lose his jacket. "Shouldn't you be off somewhere else with one of your S-Class buddies? Or Laxus?"

"How can you be this angry this early in the morning, Frosty?" Natsu asked, yawning half way through his question. Happy landed on top of his head, still looking half asleep.

"Aye," he nodded, rubbing his eyes, "Maybe he should try eating some yummy, calming fish." The idea of fish seemed to perk Happy up, whilst Gray just shot the cat a glare.

"I need _both_ of you on this with me. There's no telling what evil they're planning…" Erza seemed to trail off, talking to herself more than the others at that point. Lucy frowned.

"I honestly don't know why I'm here," Lucy said, quietly enough so that only Plue, her newest silver celestial spirit, could hear her. Erza looked at her.

"I saw you at the guild yesterday," she said, face softening slightly, "I don't believe I caught your name?"

"It's Lucy," Lucy replied, just relieved she wasn't getting the same side of Erza that she'd seen the likes of Wakaba and Gray get yesterday, "I just joined Fairy Tail. Mira asked me to tag along – she said I might learn something – if that's okay?"

Erza smiled. "The more the merrier. It's always good to get some experience in whenever you can." She turned serious again as people around them started boarding the train. "Okay, let's get on the train and I'll tell you more about why we're all here." With that, she turned to her luggage.

Somehow, the four of them (plus Happy) managed to get Erza's mountain of luggage onto the train and, with a lot of complaining from Natsu, they managed to find a part of the train that was mostly empty. Lucy sat down next to Gray, facing Natsu and Erza (and trying to ignore the tiny feeling of intimidation in the pit of her stomach because _there were two S-Class wizards sitting opposite her_ ). The minute the train started pulling out of the station, Natsu looked vaguely sick.

"Okay, Erza," Gray started, after a few moments of companionable silence, "Want to start filling us in on what's going on?" Erza took a breath.

"Right," she said, nodding. "On my last job, I happened to stop at a tavern to quickly recuperate. And whilst I was there, I overheard a group of wizards talking. Because of this, I have reason to believe that the dark guild Eisenwald is planning something big, possibly to do with something called 'Lullaby'."

"Lullaby?" Natsu asked, frowning immediately. He looked like he recognised the name, and from the look in his eyes, Lucy was pretty sure she didn't want to see whatever it was in action.

"I came across some Eisenwald wizards on my way back to Magnolia a few days ago," Gray added. "They mentioned something called Lullaby then, but something took them before they could say anything else. They seemed terrified of it."

"Possible guild deserters, then. That hardly surprises me with dark guilds," Erza nodded, snorting without humour. "That makes sense with what I've heard, in any case. Have you any idea what this 'Lullaby' could be, Natsu?" she asked, turning to the dragon slayer. Natsu seemed to be controlling his motion sick stomach for a moment before turning to answer her.

"There is one thing it could be," he said, seeming hesitant to reveal any details, if the way he looked pained was any indicator. "But until I get any more information, I don't want to jump to conclusions, and what I'm thinking of… well, it's not a good one."

Erza nodded. "Understandable." She then frowned, matching Natsu's expression nearly perfectly. Lucy would have laughed if the situation wasn't so tense. "What bothers me, however, is if Erigor gets his hands on whatever this Lullaby thing is."

Gray and Natsu's faces immediately darkened, and Lucy's stomach clenched up. If their faces were indicators, she knew that this wasn't a good sign.

"Erigor?" she asked, hesitantly.

"The ace of Eisenwald," Gray answered for Erza, expression icy. "He's a big part of the reason the guild was kicked out of the guild leagues a few years ago. He only takes on assassination requests. That's why he's earned the nickname 'Erigor the Reaper'."

" _He kills for money?!_ " Lucy asked, shivering slightly as a cold wind seemed to wash over her. Plue made a noise, trembling on her lap. "I think I want to go home now," Lucy added on, putting as much cheer into her voice as she could. "That's enough experience for me today."

"Ew, Lucy's all slimy," Happy helpfully informed them all. Lucy turned and glared at him.

"It's sweat!" she snapped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might seem odd that I ended it there, but I couldn't think of how else to end this part ;-;


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know the last chapter was a bit shitty. Hopefully this one is better, because this one isn't a bridge into the Eisenwald/Lullaby arc like the last one was

The rest of the train ride was fairly uneventful, with the most interesting things being Lucy's curious questioning about her companions' magic ("Erza's magic is really pretty! It makes her enemies bleed!" Happy had cheerfully informed her). Natsu seemed to be half asleep against the window, ignoring Erza's planning of what to do with Eisenwald when they found them. Gray inwardly snorted. Lucky bastard.

It was when he decided to get up – close to their stop, Erza had warned him menacingly with that dark look in her eyes – to use the bathroom that the interesting things had started to happen. First, he'd somehow lost his clothes on the way there again, and that somehow led to him having to look for them before returning to the others, because gods help him if Erza caught him without them again. It also led to a few awkward glances with some of the passengers, because really, how do you explain to someone that you have a psychological habit of removing clothes?

This then escalated into him missing the stop.

Just his luck. Erza was going to kill him, he thought miserably.

Sinking back into his seat and thinking of various different obituaries that might be said about him once Erza was done, Gray closed his eyes. He usually liked being alone. The solace made it easier for him to think, and the air around him was cooler without the body heat of other people. It suited the ice wizard just fine. However, this time it just filled his mind with clear images of his oncoming doom – mostly images of Erza destroying a mountain in mild annoyance, but still.

"Mind if I take this seat?"

He was broken out of his doom-filled reverie by a voice, and he opened his eyes, glancing over at who dared interrupt his brooding. A man was standing at the compartment doors and, without waiting for an answer, he sat down opposite Gray. Something about this guy irked Gray immediately. He wasn't sure whether it was the ponytail or the fact that he was wearing a white suit, _of all things_ –

"So how's being in a legal guild treatin' ya?"

What.

The question must have shown on Gray's face because the guy laughed, then suddenly kicked at him. How, when he was still sitting down, Gray wasn't sure, but he wasn't about to question it when _his fucking jaw and throat had been caught_. The guy was grinning, a hint of menace there. "What's it like to blindly follow the council's rules, little fairy?" Gray rubbed at his jaw. There was definitely going to be a bruise there later, and he couldn't even do the normal thing of applying ice to it. "Because you know what you all look like to us? _Harmless little flies_."

Like ice being cracked from too much pressure, Gray snapped.

" ** _Ice make: lance!_** "

Immediately, the burst of solid ice pushed distance between himself and the unknown man, who Gray was seriously suspecting to be a dark wizard now, and an annoying one at that. The man smirked at him from the aisle, brushing invisible dust off his clothes.

"Ooh, that hit a nerve," he said, almost conversationally.

Gray growled, low in his throat. He got back into fighting stance, preparing to unleash another lance attack – or possibly the hammer, he hadn't decided. Maybe even scissors just to cut this guy's stupid ponytail off – when he felt his magic power suddenly fizzle out.

"What?" he said aloud, looking around and dropping out of the stance. The other man laughed, and Gray snapped his eyes back to him. So it was his fault.

"What's wrong? Magic not working?" he asked mockingly. "Let me straighten that out." A purple magic circle appeared beneath his feet, and dark tendrils of – something, Gray wasn't quite sure, shot towards him. Upon contact, they flung Gray backwards, sending him flying into another compartment door.

"That magic," he ground out, glaring up at the guy. The magic power from that spell felt dark and disgusting, like the meal that Freed had made for the guild the one time Mira had been away. Before either of them could move, the train suddenly screeched to a halt – Gray glanced out of the window for a second, and saw that they were in the middle of nowhere. No doubt that this was Erza's handiwork.

The train's sudden halt had caused the other man to fall forward, and something clattered to the floor. By instinct, Gray's eyes drifted towards the fallen object, and he frowned again.

"What the hell?" he said, mostly to himself. On the floor was what looked like a flute, except the wood from which it was made looked old and twisted, like a gnarled tree root, and somehow shrivelled. The thing that caught his eye the most was the fact that the skull of the flute had three eyes, toothy smile permanently carved in a pleasantly menacing expression.

"Crap! You saw it!" the man yelled, sounding panicked for the first time.

"Hey, Gray! You gonna stand around in there all day?" a voice shouted from outside the carriage. Gray didn't need to look to know who it was. Trust Natsu to already be there waiting for him. Well, far be it from him to keep flame brain waiting.

" ** _Ice make: floo_ _r_ _!_** " he shouted, serrated chunks of ice immediately racing towards the opponent.

" ** _Dark shadows!_** "

The resultant part explosion, part freeze over of the carriage allowed Gray to slip away through an open window whilst the other man was too busy muttering about 'lucky shots' from his new home amongst the rubble. Gray winced at the mess. He was getting as sloppy as Erza or, gods forbid, Natsu on a bad day.

"This isn't over!" he heard over the chaos as he leapt from the window onto solid ground, Natsu watching and listening nearby. "You're dealing with Eisenwald!"

Natsu wandered over, hands in his pockets and looking thoughtful. "So he's with Eisenwald, huh?"

Gray hummed in response, but before he could say anything more, a magic-mobile drew up next to the train, which was now steadily pulling away. The minute it stopped, Erza jumped out of the driver's seat and marched over to him.

"Gray," she began, sounding serious, "I apologise for leaving you on that train. You may strike me in retribution." She even held out her arm in offering, and Gray took a step back, wildly waving his hands.

"No, no, no!" he rushed out, "No need for that." He stopped his wild gesticulating, and took a breath. "You might wanna hear this, though."

It took a few minutes to explain the strange encounter with the Eisenwald wizard on the train, and the strange flute he had, and by the time he was done, Natsu was frowning.

"Three eyed skull, you said?" he asked, and Gray nodded, not liking Natsu's expression at all. Whenever Natsu went into Serious Demon Mode, things were usually pretty bad. Natsu's expression shifted to eerily calm. "Then it's definitely Lullaby, as I suspected. Strange time for him to show up again." He turned and looked at the others. "Two things you should know about Lullaby: one, it's dangerous and lethal. Two, Lullaby is a demon, not a flute."

The four others stared at him.

Natsu blinked back at them.

"I saw a flute," Gray said blandly, remembering the terrifying monstrosity that had been Deliora. "I didn't see a giant monster."

Natsu sighed. "Look, let's just get going and I'll explain things on the way."

* * *

"Right, you said you'd explain," Gray said without preamble, nudging the vaguely green Natsu with his foot. Natsu gave him the _look_ but sat up anyway, still looking sick.

"There are two types of demons," Natsu began, drumming his fingers on his knee and resting his head against the window. Lucy listened with rapt attention. "There are the natural type, who for the most part are pretty benevolent against anything that isn't the moon." The drumming stopped for a second before picking back up. "And there are the demons that Zeref created, bound to the Book of Zeref."

"Who's Zeref?" Gray asked, frowning again.

"Why do I feel like I know that name?" Lucy asked, annoyed with herself for not remembering. She was sure she'd heard that name somewhere before.

"I'd be surprised if you didn't," Natsu said quietly, still drumming. "To put it simply, he's probably the greatest wizard to have ever lived, and the darkest one as well. He created demons from nothing, and the first wave turned out to be abominations. Only Lullaby and Deliora were allowed to survive. Better demons were created after that."

"You still haven't explained why he's a flute," Gray pointed out.

"That's his second form, Gray," Natsu said seriously. "All demons of the Book of Zeref have a second form."

Without warning, the magic-mobile pulled to a sudden halt, and everybody looked towards the front with questioning glances.

"Everybody out!" came Erza's voices, loud and commandeering. "We'll continue this conversation outside."

Natsu shot the front of the magic-mobile a glare as he pushed the door on his side open and all but fell out. Gray smirked, following him with more grace. So it seemed that Erza wanted to join in on the conversation now. Natsu leaned, shakily, against the magic-mobile, looking one step from sitting on the ground itself, and Gray snorted at him.

"Of all the things to incapacitate you," he said slowly, shaking his head. A chill settled over him all of a sudden, and he was suddenly acutely aware of a presence behind him.

"If we could get back on topic," Erza said darkly. She seemed satisfied when Gray nodded quickly, and continued. "You mentioned a second form? What does that mean?" she asked, frowning heavily.

"Zeref's demons each have a second form, which are essentially less powerful versions of their true forms. Lullaby's is a flute because Zeref only created him for one purpose. What that purpose was I will not say," he added in a slightly more menacing tone when Erza opened her mouth. "In any case, we're wasting time standing around here. We need to get going, and that magic-mobile won't get us to the station in time." Natsu stopped in thought, and he sighed after a moment. "Guess it's time for me to give up a secret art."

"What?"

Natsu ignored them and stuck his hands in his pockets, and a dark magic circle appeared underneath them all.

Instantly, large flames appeared around them, towering over them all, and Gray instinctively took a step back, only to find more flames behind him. The flames encased them in a cocoon of warmth, almost too-warm inferno, and Gray felt himself feel dizzy all of a sudden. His head felt disconnected from the rest of his body, his very atoms felt as though they were being displaced. Through it all, everything in him was screaming that this wasn't normal dragon slaying magic, that this was something darker.

And suddenly, it was over. The flames vanished, and Gray breathed in cool air again. Beside him, Erza and Lucy seemed to be going through something similar. That gave him some relief. At least he wasn't the only one feeling shitty. As his head began to clear, Gray noticed that they weren't standing on the edge of the train tracks next to the magic-mobile anymore – rather, they were right outside Oshibana station.

"What the…" he trailed off, staring at the station, then back at Natsu. It was the times like these when Gray actually began to feel nervous around his guild mate. Not that he'd ever admit it, of course.

"What was that?" Lucy asked, seeming to have recovered her voice and staring at Natsu with wide eyes.

"That's what I'd like to know as well," Erza agreed, giving Natsu a dark look and putting her hands on her hips.

"Hell's Gate, a teleportation spell that takes me anywhere I want," Natsu answered absently, looking around. He sniffed the air, and gave satisfied nod. "Eisenwald are in the station already. That was why I used the spell, rather than letting you drive us here. We don't have a lot of time, and we need to kick Eisenwald's ass!" he added with a grin.

Erza looked like she was about to say something, but instead nodded determinedly. "You're right," she said, steeling herself.

That thought in mind, the five of them marched – well, Happy flew, lazy bastard – towards the station, trying to ignore the ominous feeling drifting off it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the lack of updates for the last couple of weeks. I've been away on holiday and I only got back on Saturday, and I haven't even had chance to write any more new chapters in that time. At least now I'll be able to get back into that, even with having started university yesterday :) hopefully, this is okay!

From the moment they stepped through the doors to the building, Natsu was on alert. The air felt thick with anxiety and fear, and the cloying smell of blood lingered around his nose, making him feel sick. He grimaced. That grimace turned into a mask of tranquil fury when they turned a corner and found the bodies of the rune knights, lying before the stairs.

Lucy let out a choked sound at the sight, and Gray growled.

"They never stood a chance against a guild of wizards," Erza said softly, crouching down to examine one of the knights. "Especially dark wizards."

"Are they all…" Lucy asked, trailing off softly at the end. Everyone understood what she was asking, though.

"Not all," Natsu answered her, sounding oddly detached as he looked around the fallen knights, face blank. 'Not all' meant that some had perished in their fight against the dark wizards.

"Come on," Erza said brusquely, already moving forward up the stairs. "We need to find Erigor before he has the chance to use Lullaby."

Breaking into a run, the group of Fairy Tail wizards followed her up the stairs and broke through a pair of double doors at the top, smashing them open with a loud bang. Waiting for them was a large group of wizards, so obviously with a dark guild that they couldn't have made it any more obvious if they had tried. Natsu gagged a bit at the stench rolling off them all. God, hadn't these people learned of personal hygiene? Was it a requirement to lose it when joining a dark guild?

"Looks like we found them," Happy commented cheerfully from the side, hovering just out of reach.

"Shut it, cat," Lucy ground out, sounding out of breath.

"Why are you tired all of a sudden, Lushy?"

"I said _shut it, cat_."

"Well, well, well," came a smug voice from the other side of the room, interrupting Lucy and Happy's squabble. Natsu glanced over and saw a floating man wearing what looked like a dirty sheet, a scythe thrown over his shoulder lazily. "It looks as though the little flies have flown directly into my trap."

"I'd be careful who you're calling a fly whilst you're up there!" Gray threatened in a low voice, removing his jacket. A guy from the crowd, a dark haired one wearing a white jacket, pointed at Gray.

"That's the stripping idiot who attacked me on the train!" he shouted, looking ready to brawl there and then. Natsu ignored them, and his growing headache, in favour of sniffing the air. Filtering through the repugnant odours of the dark wizards in the room, he focused on the familiar earthy smell of Lullaby, snapping onto his location like a tracker. He really did love his enhanced senses sometimes.

"Men!" Erigor shouted, apparently at his wits end with his own guild. Really, Natsu couldn't blame the man. "Eliminate these pesky flies!" Then, like the fly he was, he flew away.

The Eisenwald wizards immediately began to swarm forwards, intent on delivering their boss's wish with great effectiveness. How effective they would actually be, Natsu knew he would never find out, as Erza turned to him and Gray with a fierce look in her eye, a look Natsu knew only too well. "Go and find Erigor! He must be stopped!"

"Right," Gray nodded, immediately taking off towards the doors that led further into the station. Natsu followed him a second later, the shouts of " ** _Requip: Heaven's wheel!_** " growing faint with every step. He heard the shouts through the walls and ground though, and smirked. Unlucky bastards.

* * *

Erza stared at the oncoming Eisenwald wizards calmly, judging the distance between them and herself. Then she narrowed her eyes at them and their lack of grace, their repugnance.

"I will give you all one chance to surrender," she declared, paying no mind to the look that Lucy shot her.

"She must be kidding!" one wizard laughed to his friend. Erza smiled slightly, her eyes going shadowed behind a portion of her hair. Distantly, she heard Happy let out a noise but paid him no mind.

"I was hoping you'd say that," she replied, still calmly watching the advancing wizards. " ** _Requip: Heaven's wheel_ _!_** "

Instantly, she could feel herself change into one of her most used and iconic armours, the one that gave her the name Titania. She felt her abilities change in accordance to her armour, and felt the automatic pull of magic to requip her swords. About seventy swords should be sufficient, she thought.

She came out of the requip phase floating above everyone else, much like Erigor had, except she was wielding multiple weapons of war. She stared down dispassionately at the Eisenwald wizards, who had all suddenly stopped in their advancements and were staring up at her, some of them in recognition and horror.

"I know who that is!" one of them said, pointing at her. "That's Titania Erza, the Queen of the Fairies!"

Erza glared down at him. "Don't you know it's rude to point?" she demanded, her swords pointing more in his direction. The wizard yelped but Erza ignored it. " ** _Circle sword_ _!_** "

The swords flew out in all directions, striking multiple guild wizards and sending them all flying backwards. She heard Lucy exclaim, "Oh wow! She took most of them out with a single hit!" but paid no attention to it. There were rude people to punish.

At some point into the takedown of the guild wizards process, Erza idly noticed that Lucy had summoned one of her spirits as well, and was using it - him? - to great success, it seemed. While her spirit's way of taking down the wizards seemed to be a bit unconventional - Erza had never heard of a method that involved removing the hair of the enemies before, but then she'd only used her swords and intimidation - it had been effective and demoralising, it seemed.

Erza smiled in amusement and satisfaction. She could only hope, now, that Natsu and Gray had managed to track down Erigor.

"How was that for style, baby?" she heard the spirit ask Lucy, and she turned to them.

"Great work as always, Cancer!" Lucy replied enthusiastically, smiling at him and looking at the damage he'd done to the Eisenwald wizards. The shining bald heads spoke for themselves, really.

The giant crab shimmered and disappeared, and Erza walked over to Lucy and Happy. "That was quite impressive," she said. Lucy's face lit up.

"Awesome! Points scored with Erza!" She seemed to be more talking to herself than anyone else.

"That's what you were going for?!" Happy demanded, hovering next to her. Lucy shot him a glare.

"However," Erza continued, as though there hadn't been an interruption. "The way he calls you baby... I find it quite insulting."

Lucy's shoulders slumped. "Points unscored," she said dejectedly.

* * *

When he and Gray split up to find Erigor, Natsu slowed his pace to a jog, mind going a mile a minute as he blasted through wall after wall absent mindedly. With his superior sense of smell, he could tell that Erigor had left the building and was somewhere outside, but Natsu put off actually leaving, instead trying to figure out the motive behind all of this. _Why_ , he thought as he punched a flaming fist through an unbroken wall, ignoring debris going everywhere, _would someone go to such lengths to get Lullaby?_ If it was a demon they wanted, there were more superior demons to choose from than Lullaby.

Natsu snorted. He should know. He'd spent a good majority of his time avoiding one of them. One that cried whenever antique doors got smashed to bits.

It was towards the end of the hall that Natsu became acutely aware that there was someone following him. Slowing to a stop, he reached out with all of his senses, letting them form a picture for him that he couldn't see.

One of the Eisenwald wizards, hidden in the ground through the use of his magic. About five feet behind him. Most definitely hostile. The wizard who dispelled the wards around Lullaby.

"I'm going to give you a small piece of advice, pal," Natsu said casually as he slowed to a stop, using his sense of smell to pinpoint his follower's exact location, honing in on the vague image. Three steps behind him. Natsu smirked, and turned into his next attack, flying fist-first into the ground and sending tendrils of hell fire everywhere. Once the dust and debris cleared, he was left staring at a grounded wizard. It was the same guy who'd been in the main hall part earlier who'd known Gray, his white jacket torn and his face battered and bruised.

Bending down, Natsu hummed as he picked the guy up by the scruff of his jacket, getting a good look at him.

"Never try to sneak up on a wizard who's way out of your league," he said, igniting the fist holding the guy for a second for extra emphasis. "And especially never sneak up on dragons. Igneel would have stomped you to death." The sound of bricks breaking from somewhere in the distance sounded through the walls, and both Natsu and the guy looked in that direction briefly. "So where's Aragog?" he asked the guy, turning back to him.

"Not here," the guy spat back, giving a bloody toothed smirk.

Natsu stared at him for a moment before igniting himself in low burning flames. These were only meant to intimidate. He knew that they made him look like the demon he really was, giving his hair a shadowed horn-like appearance and shadowing his eyes. "Where's Aegon?" he repeated, seeing the guy look significantly more scared than he was a second ago. It was a look he was very familiar with. Everlue had pissed his pants when he'd had the look.

"Heading for Clover Town! He intends to use Lullaby on the guild masters!" the guy said quickly, leaning away from Natsu as far as he could.

Natsu's fairly pleasant mood vanished the moment he heard that, and it was replaced with a low simmering anger, heat low in his chest and stomach.

"Clover, huh?" Natsu said absently, dropping the guy on the floor. He was vaguely aware of the guy scrambling to lean against the wall, to get away from him. From further down the hall, Natsu caught his friends' scents coming his way. He supposed they'd also learned of Eisenwald's plan as well.

"There's a wind barrier around the station though! You can't get out!"

"Watch me," Natsu said darkly as Erza came into view, looking significantly more tired than she had done before he'd left her. Natsu felt a spike of concern for her.

"Erigor's real target is Clover!" Lucy said quickly, eyes wide and hands flapping everywhere, not having noticed the wizard sat on the floor. "But Erigor's trapped us in here with a wind barrier!"

"I know," Natsu said, thinking for a moment. He glared darkly at the Eisenwald wizard he'd been interrogating again, then looked back to his friends. "I'll go and stop Eragon. You guys work on getting out of here."

"Alone?" Gray stepped forward, glaring. "Flame brain, I know you're good, but he has Lullaby which is, according to you, just a giant demon."

"Exactly," Natsu replied coolly, taking a step back from him. "That's why I'm going after him."

With that, Natsu let his portal flames engulf him.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere between the towns of Oshibana and Clover, a man wearing what looked suspiciously like a sheet was making his way over the Clover Canyon. He was flying with purpose, although slowly, casual and unhurried, with a smirk on his face.

"I'm so close to the guild masters I can taste it," Erigor remarked to himself. "And what's more, the magic energy I used creating that wind barrier is almost fully recharged!" He let out a laugh. "Now it's time to really get things started." With that, he began to fly slightly more quickly. "You fools not only took away our work, but you robbed us of our rights! And now I'm going to make you pay!

**_The Reaper's clenching is nigh_ _!_** "


	6. Chapter 6

Erza stared at the spot where Natsu had just been standing, frustration building up inside of her. Her first instinct was to punch someone - namely Natsu himself, but since he wasn't with them, thanks to his vanishing trick that she really, _really_ hated, she punched Gray instead.

"Ow!" he shouted, jumping and rubbing his arm where Erza's armoured fist had landed, glaring at her. "What the hell?"

"Why does he always do this?" Erza asked, glaring at the wall that must have done something to wrong her. In retaliation, she threw her sword at it and it crumbled into dust. "Always taking off without telling anyone what he's doing!"

" ** _So you hit me_**?!"

Erza went back to ignoring him, turning to the Eisenwald wizard, Kageyama, and staring at him furiously. "You broke all the seals on Lullaby!" she said, directing all of her frustration towards him. "Help us escape the wind barrier."

Kageyama gazed back at her and opened his mouth to respond - before he could say anything, though, a hand was plunged through his chest, and an ominous dark red immediately started staining his shirt. Erza, Gray, Lucy and Happy all stood in shocked silence for a moment, minds reeling, until Erza hurried forward.

"Kage, no! Stay with us! We need you!" she shouted, applying pressure to the wound. Glancing up, she saw another wizard from the Eisenwald guild staring at them through the walls, looking ashamed at what he'd done, blood covering his hand.

"Why?!" Lucy shouted, staring at the man in horror, hands clenched at her sides. "He was your friend! How could you do that to one of your friends!" She grabbed one of the keys off her belt and yelled, " ** _Open! Gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus_ _!_** "

A gold light flashed, and Erza blinked for a moment. The light vanished, and a huge anthropomorphic bull, wielding a battle-axe, was standing in the room.

"Get him, Taurus!" Lucy shouted, pointing at where the wizard had just disappeared into the wall.

The bull immediately charged forward with a, "You're gonna pay for makin' Miss Looocy mad!"

Erza blinked again, sighed, and resumed her efforts of trying to wake Kageyama up, ignoring Gray's input on how they should actually be trying to wake him up.

* * *

Natsu was standing on the tracks above the ravine on the way to Clover, the smell of smoke fading into the breeze. The wind was blowing in his direction, slightly warm against his face, and he sniffed the air. He grinned. Just as he thought. Erigor was coming this way, on his way to the guild masters' meeting. Natsu was just glad he hadn't misjudged the distance.

Right on cue, someone appeared overhead a few minutes later, flying through the wind with what looked like an overly smug expression on their face. Natsu looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he said to himself. Then shouted, "Oi, Aragorn!"

Erigor stopped mid-air and looked down at Natsu. A snarl curled his lip. "So, one of the Fairy Tail flies escaped my trap," he said, almost condescendingly.

"I'd watch who you're calling a fly whilst you're up there, buddy," Natsu advised, nodding up towards the sky, before getting back on track. "And I'm not letting you get a step further, you dress wearing windbag." Really, anyone who thinks wearing a dirty sheet is acceptable deserves what they get. Which is a lot of flames.

Erigor laughed, the sound mocking and breezy. "You think you can stop me?" He twirled the scythe around lazily.

Natsu smirked up at him lazily.

"I'm going to stop you," he replied, casual and unhurried.

Erigor laughed again, and the wind picked up around them as he raised his hands. "Come and give it your all then, little fly," he jeered, the winds slowly starting to blow faster, more viciously. Natsu stood his ground, unfazed, and set his fists alight with red flames, the tendrils of light dancing to the air that fuelled them.

"Fire?" Erigor snorted, laughing again. "You stand no chance against me, fly! My wind magic will tear you and your puny fire to shreds!"

"Normal fire, perhaps," Natsu agreed, hair blowing around his face as the winds continued to get stronger, almost biting into his skin. If he were more human, perhaps it would be hurting at this point. He suddenly grinned up at his opponent. "But nothing stops dragon fire." He threw his hand out, towards Erigor, and shouted, " ** _Down!_** "

A chain made entirely of red fire shot out of the palm of his hand, flying upwards through the gale-force winds towards Erigor in a flash. The moment it reached the dark wizard, it wrapped itself around his arms. Before Erigor could even say anything, the chain was dragging him back down to the ground, and the winds suddenly stopped.

Erigor stared at Natsu, slightly hunched over from the chains.

"Impossible," he wheezed, sounding breathless from the sudden change in altitude. "You're nothing but a fly!" He coughed again.

"Nah," Natsu replied, glancing over and seeing Lullaby lying on the ground a couple of feet away, looking innocent as anything. He bent down to pick it up, then turned back to Erigor. Allowing some of his more demonic nature to slip into focus, he continued, "Let me tell you something, pal." He grabbed hold of Erigor's tattered robe and pulled the chained wizard close. His voice took on a more menacing tone. "If my family is threatened, then believe me when I say this: **_I am worse than Lullaby a thousand times over_**."

Erigor paled and started shaking. Rolling his eyes, Natsu punched him in the face, knocking him out. He could only take a certain amount of idiotic dark wizards in one day.

He then returned his attention to Lullaby.

"So, Lullaby," he said casually, looking at the flute, "Looking slightly more musical than the last time we met."

_Master! Master Natsu!_ came a joyous shout in his mind, loud and slightly whiny.

"I never expected for us to meet again like this," Natsu said musingly, looking out over the canyon with contemplation. "But then, I never expected us to meet again." He paused for a moment. "I have to destroy you. It's the only way to make sure you won't hurt my friends, or innocent people."

_Wait, wait! I have an idea!_

"Oh? I'll hear it, then."

_If you let me be free, then I'll be your faithful servant!_

Natsu stared at the flute in his hands for a moment before looking back out over the canyon. "And I'd want that… why? How do I know you're not gonna hurt my friends? Or innocents?"

_I wouldn't hurt them, Master Natsu!_

"Weren't you supposed to be serving Mard Geer?"

There was a grumble of intense dislike from Lullaby, like a wave of acid. _Mard Geer is nowhere near as great as Master Natsu! And Mard Geer cries whenever Jackal destroys an old door. And smashes through walls._

"What about when the next better opportunity comes along? Can I expect the same amount of loyalty that Mard got?"

_Yes! No! I mean no! I will always be loyal! I will always serve you and always you Master!_

Natsu just sighed and closed his eyes, ignoring Lullaby's inane ramblings. When he opened them, the irises were red, like the colour of freshly spilled blood, and a cool wind seemed to blow around him. "Sorry," he said, his voice slightly lower, slightly more menacing. "As tempting as that is, the safety of my family is more important." He was pretty sure Lullaby was screaming something at him, but Natsu ignored it. " ** _End_**."

Small, black flames encircled the flute and exploded at once, leaving a smokescreen behind. When all of the smoke cleared, Natsu was staring at the empty shell of what used to be Lullaby.

* * *

Speeding towards the bridge on the magic-mobile they'd found at the station, wind whipping through her hair, Erza urged the car to go faster. They'd managed to escape Oshibana station through the use of one of Lucy's celestial spirits, Virgo, in the end. It had only taken Happy ten minutes to remember that Lucy had a spirit that could dig holes.

Erza's eye twitched at the recollection, but she refrained from saying anything, and her thoughts returned to Natsu and her earlier irritation of him.

It wasn't that she didn't think he wasn't capable. He was an S-Class wizard, just as she was. Natsu was like Gildarts in some respects, though, in that he liked to run off without telling anyone else where he was going or what he was doing (and that he could be very destructive if he wasn't paying attention). It had made for a very frustrating time in the guild when they were all children.

A trail of smoke became visible, and Erza heard Happy shout above them, "I think I can see them!"

Determinedly, Erza sped up, not caring for the continuous drain on her magic power, or for the tiredness she could feel creeping into her bones from the combination of fighting and driving the magic-mobile.

Sure enough, within a few minutes, they were pulling up to a slightly smoking part of the bridge. Natsu got up from his seated position, next to an unconscious Erigor, and waved cheerfully.

"Hey guys!" he yelled, waving and grinning away like an idiot.

Erza looked around, inspecting their surroundings as Lucy, Gray and an injured Kageyama exited the back of the car. "No damage," she said in mild surprise, turning back to Natsu. "Colour me impressed." Natsu grinned at her again. "Where's Lullaby?"

"Lullaby won't be causing anymore trouble. I've seen to that," Natsu replied airily, shrugging out invisible kinks in his shoulders.

"Have you destroyed it?" Lucy asked. Kageyama looked panicked at the thought, then winced at the pain it caused.

"It's gone," Natsu nodded. Almost immediately, Erza felt a weight lift from her shoulders for the first time in days, ever since she'd caught wind of Eisenwald's plans. This nightmare was over. No one would die by Lullaby's song, not now and not ever.

"I suppose we should tell Gramps?" Gray suggested, shrugging. Somehow, he'd lost his shirt again. Erza felt her eye twitch.

"Or we could go home and wait for him to come back," Lucy piped up, sounding eager to get back to Magnolia and away from the madness of the last few days. Erza didn't blame her, but they still needed to debrief.

"Gray, dress yourself," she said sternly, causing Gray to jump, "But I agree. We should tell the Master what has happened."

"What do we do about him?" Gray asked, nodding down at the unconscious Erigor, looking puzzled at the fire chain wrapped around his wrists.

"He'll be fine there," Natsu answered airily, shrugging lightly. "He can't go anywhere."

Everyone sweatdropped a bit at that, but said nothing. It was Natsu, after all.

* * *

"Hmm," Makarov said, taking a sip of his beer and staring at the five in front of them intently, as he had been doing ever since they had started talking, "It sounds like you kids have had quite the day." He paused to take another drink. "You've taken down Eisenwald, removed the threat of Lullaby – and without destroying a town, no less! So no paperwork or complaints for me to deal with!" He added the last part with exaggerated tears of joy. Erza watched him dispassionately.

Around them, the other guild masters murmured their surprise at that as well. Erza's eye twitched. So, the guild masters thought that they were incapable of holding back, did they? She'd teach them all a lesson about holding back that they'd never forget, see how they like it then. She felt the itching need to requip into an armour that would do just nicely for the occasion -

"Your guild has grown so strong and cute," Master Bob gushed, having floated over to Natsu and Gray during their recollection of the events surrounding Eisenwald.

"Can we have some of them?" came a sullen voice from the back. Lucy looked a little horrified and took a step in the opposite direction of the disembodied voice.

"Not on your life!" Makarov laughed, smugness written all over it. "These kids are mine, you know!"

"Aw, thanks Gramps!" Natsu said happily. He'd somehow managed to worm his way out of Master Bob's embrace, leaving Gray all alone to deal with the rather eccentric guild master. Erza didn't envy him one bit. She was just glad _he_ wasn't here. The thought of it made her shudder and look around compulsively.

"The Rune Knights have probably apprehended Eisenwald by now," Makarov continued, idly stroking his moustache. "And if there is nothing further to discuss, fellow guild masters?" A murmuring of agreement from the other masters, and Makarov smiled. "Let's be off, then. I'd rather avoid the council."

Lucy raised a hand, looking slightly awkward. "There aren't any trains running to Clover, though," she pointed out. She then let out a noise of surprise as Natsu slung an arm over her shoulders.

"Don't worry about it," he said eagerly. Far too eagerly, Erza thought. She was well aware of his penchant for avoiding moving transportation. "I've got us covered."

"You don't mean…" Gray trailed off, looking vaguely sick at the thought. He'd managed to extract himself from Master Bob's hug as well, now. Erza's stomach clenched at the thought of Natsu's choice of transportation again.

The words had barely even left his mouth when the same magic circle from before appeared beneath all of their feet. Makarov didn't even have the time to question Natsu on what it was before the large flames enveloped them in their warm cocoon again. Erza winced in discomfort as she felt the sensation of displacement across her body, her head feeling light for a moment. The flames dissipated a second later, leaving cool air behind. Erza looked around, breathing heavily, and saw that they were outside the guild hall doors.

Back home. Back in Magnolia.

Erza let out a sigh, relief flooding through her like a wave. Things were finally starting to look normal again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I have no idea why I've been forgetting to update this version of this fic, given that I've been updating the ffnet version just fine. I think I'm just dumb so, I'm so sorry!

It was a strange feeling, Lucy thought as she wandered into the guild a few days following the Lullaby scare, knowing that a crisis had been averted. According to Erza and the Master, the Eisenwald wizards at the Oshibana station had all been rounded up by the Rune Knights, and all the injured soldiers that had been wounded fighting them before they'd shown up had been seen to. And, according to Natsu, Erigor had been taken into custody, whimpering about some sort of demon.

"I think I broke him," Natsu had frowned, messing with his scarf absently. "I didn't even do anything to him."

"You showing up is more than enough to terrify someone," Gray had then pointed out snidely. Natsu responded by punching him into a wall, leaving a Gray-shaped crater.

And then there was the Master.

"There have been minimal damage expenses!" the Master had gleefully informed them all, nearly in tears of joy. " _And the council isn't even angry with me!_ " That was when the tears started.

So Lucy supposed it was a nice happy ending for what was a terrifying first experience at a guild, but she still wanted to take on a job. Just – a job that wouldn't involve a demon or a dark wizard guild trying to kill everyone. With a sigh, she glanced over at the request board.

There were wizards milling around it. Nab, a taller wizard, always seemed to be there. She dimly remembered Erza scolding him for never picking a job. A blue haired girl was also there with two guys, and a purple haired girl standing off to the side. With a low hum and a small smile at Mira's inquisitive look, Lucy got up and walked over to the request board, standing in front of it and looking over the various jobs available. Since she'd managed to find a place to live in Magnolia now – a nice little apartment near the shopping district at only seventy thousand jewels a month – she had rent to pay now.

Just the thought of it made her want to cry. She sort of understood how the Master felt now.

"Let's see," she murmured to herself, glancing over the jobs. "Monster hunting, definitely not. Taking out a dark wizard guild… Translating an ancient scripture…"

"Hey Lushy."

Lucy nearly screamed at the sudden voice in her ear, and she turned mid-jump. Happy was sitting on top of Natsu's hair, eating a fish and looking quite content with himself for scaring her. Lucy glared at him. Stupid cat. Natsu grinned at her and waved cheerfully.

"Hey Lucy," he greeted, apparently not caring about the evil ball of fur in his hair. Maybe Happy was the true demon of the guild. "Whatcha doing?"

Well, if he was going to ignore Happy, then she would, as well. "I need a job," she replied, looking back up at the requests with a frown. "I have my rent to pay soon, but I don't think I can handle anything like Eisenwald again yet."

"No problem!" Natsu grinned, and he produced a piece of paper seemingly from thin air, holding it in front of Lucy's face.

"What?" Lucy plucked it from Natsu's hand and looked it over. "A job request for a delivery… reward is a hundred thousand jewels?! For just a delivery?!"

"That should be enough to cover your rent, right?" Natsu asked, slinging an arm around her shoulder. Lucy didn't attempt to shrug him off – she'd given up on that after the fifth time he'd done it. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go! Right, Happy?"

"Aye, sir!" the blue cat responded enthusiastically.

"Right!" Lucy smiled, then her expression froze as what they just said sunk in. "Wait a minute. What do you mean _**we**_?!"

"We're a team now, of course!"

Lucy blinked. Of course? When had that happened? Yeah, she had been on the job with Natsu, Gray and Erza to stop Eisenwald and Lullaby, but she had assumed that was a one-time deal, something for her to gain some extra experience. A terrifying way for her to gain experience, as ways involving Zeref's demons often were, but experience nonetheless. She shifted uncomfortably under Natsu's unrelenting smile.

"Are you sure you want to be on a team with me?" she asked self-consciously, unable to stop fidgeting. "You're an S-Class wizard. Surely you'd be better with someone like Erza on your team." She left out mentioning the demonic part – she'd noticed that he seemed to rarely actually use that part of himself. Compared to the likes of Lullaby, Natsu was the complete opposite of 'demon'.

"Aye, Lushy!" Happy chimed in, done with his fish, fluttering down from his perch on Natsu's hair to Lucy's free shoulder. "Erza's really scary and you're really nice."

"And other people are always trying to fight me all the time for some reason," Natsu added, looking simultaneously annoyed and confused. "Especially the stripper." His expression immediately brightened again, and he smiled at Lucy again. "So what do you say?"

"If you're really sure… okay!"

Lucy watched as Natsu wandered over to the bar and talked with Mira, showing her the request and grinning away as he gestured over to Lucy and Happy. Suddenly, a shadow was cast over the guild, and the room temperature seemed to drop by a few degrees.

"Natsu."

Erza was standing in the doorway, regarding him with a cool expression, hands on her hips. Natsu turned to look at her, confusedly. Erza drew her sword and pointed at him. "I wish to fight you again."

Immediately, the guild began to murmur amongst themselves. Lucy saw Max, the sand wizard, and the purple haired girl, Laki, sitting together in the corner and furiously whispering together. She was about eighty percent sure people were taking bets, and most of those bets seemed to be in Natsu's favour.

"What the hell is Erza thinking?" came Gray's voice from over Lucy's shoulder. Lucy glanced over and wasn't even surprised to find him standing next to her, watching the confrontation. "You'd think after what happened last time, she'd have a bit more sense."

" _Would you put some clothes on?!_ " Lucy snapped at him, before calming down and asking, "What happened last time?"

"Erza challenged Natsu to a fight when they were younger and she lost pretty badly," Happy answered for Gray, appearing to have settled himself down on Lucy's shoulder.

"She's gotten stronger since then, though," Elfman defended, appearing from nowhere and startling Lucy. "She's a real man!"

"Yeah, but so's Natsu," Cana reminded him, rolling her eyes and chugging on her barrel of wine.

"Why do people always want to fight me?" Natsu wondered aloud, looking over at Mira. Mira just offered an apologetic smile and a shrug.

" _ **Requip!**_ " A glow surrounded Erza, like the one that had been around her in Oshibana station when she and Lucy had been taking out the Eisenwald wizards. When the glow died away, Erza was standing in dark red and orange armour, holding a giant dark red sword. Her face was set like steel, and when she charged forward Lucy nearly leapt five feet in the air.

Before the sword could connect with Natsu, he was gone, leaving only sparks in the air and the smell of burning trees behind, like the remains of a fire. In that very same second, he'd reappeared behind Erza, arms behind his head. "Flame Empress Armour. Nice," he complimented, grinning at her. Erza's eye twitched as she spun around to face him again.

"That amour will cut normal fire attacks in half by fifty percent," Gray said to Lucy. "Makes them less destructive."

"Why won't you take me seriously, Natsu?" Erza demanded, running at him again and slashing at his torso. Natsu vanished again, in the same manner as before, and appeared a few feet away to the side. Erza spun around again, looking frustrated and all pretence at calmness gone. "Why won't you let me fight you?!"

Natsu's eyes darkened, and Lucy shivered slightly as she took in his colder expression. It was like she was looking at an entirely different part of his personality altogether. "Because the last time we did, you ended up really hurt because of me," he replied, as though the words pained him. Erza charged towards him again, and Natsu made no move to stop her. As the blade descended again, Natsu calmly held out a hand again, and as the sword passed by it, the metal shattered, much like Gray's ice make projectile had on Lucy's first day in the guild.

Lucy really hoped no one heard the tiny screeching noise she made in the back of her throat.

After a moment – Natsu and Erza had a brief, private conversation – Natsu turned to Lucy, grin firmly back in place, and said, "Ready, Lucy?"

Lucy could only nod, mystified.

* * *

The client that they were meeting lived in a small, non-descript town that wouldn't have looked out of place in some sort of fairy tale. It had taken only a couple of hours to reach the town by train – at Lucy's insistence, because there was no way she was using the demonic teleportation spell unless she really had to. This had led to a lot of protests from Natsu.

The client himself was the mayor of the town, and as such lived in the biggest, fanciest house possible. Lucy had seen fancier houses in her time, but she was still a bit struck on how people could spent their money on exterior design so much. Outside the giant mansion were rows and rows of hedges, cut to resemble people and animals, and a fountain with lime lights on it in the middle of all of that. Walking cautiously through the front garden, Lucy, Natsu and Happy were immediately greeted by the mayor's butler, and welcomed inside.

Actually sitting in a giant sitting room, waiting for the mayor to arrive, was just awkward.

"I see you responded to my request," came a voice, and Lucy startled again. She scowled mentally, vowing to train herself not to do that. "I thank you, Fairy Tail wizards."

"No problem," Natsu grinned, leaning back against the cushions.

"I am Schmorgen Heckengard, the mayor of this town," the mayor – Heckengard – continued, placing his hands together. "As you know, the request was for delivering a package." He picked up a package that was seated next to him, wrapped neatly in brown paper. Lucy wondered how the man managed to do something as mundane as picking up a package with a flourish. "I would like you to deliver this to someone called Lindsay. She lives just outside Clover Town."

"What's in it?" Happy asked interestedly. Lucy shot him a glare and shoved him with her elbow.

"Nothing that concerns you," Heckengard responded testily. Natsu, Lucy and Happy all nodded, and Heckengard carefully handed over the package to Lucy, casting a look at Happy when he put a paw on the wrapping. Then he was getting up from his seat and turning towards one of the giant windows in the room, as though he was eager to be rid of their company. "Yuki will show you all out."

As though summoned like a celestial spirit, the butler that had shown them into the house led them to the door, wished them all 'good day, sirs and lady' and quite literally shut the door in their face.

Lucy blinked.

Well, that was a different experience to anything she'd had before, including demons and dark wizard guilds. It seemed that Heckengard and his staff were nothing if not brutally efficient, in any case. She heard what sounded suspiciously like a sniffing noise, and she glanced over to her left. Natsu was leaning in close to the package, sniffing around it with a look of intense concentration.

"What the hell?!" Lucy demanded shrilly, yanking the package away from Natsu's prying nose and holding it a safe distance away from him. Natsu shrugged.

"I was just trying to see what was in it," he replied, sounding unashamed. Lucy could only stare. Natsu turned away from her, beginning to walk in a random direction with his arms crossed casually behind his head. Happy floated down onto one of his shoulders. "Anyway, Clover isn't that far from here. About six hours to walk there."

"Wait, what?" Lucy asked, quickly walking after him and glaring at him. She only became more annoyed when she realised that he wasn't bothered by the glares. "Six hours to _walk there_?! Why are we walking there?!"

"There's no trains out here." Natsu shot a grin over his shoulder at her, seeing her unamused expression. "And it's either this or I teleport us there, which I won't say no to, either."

" _Absolutely not!_ "

Natsu shrugged. "Have it your way, Loopy."

Lucy glared at his back. "It's Lucy," she ground out, thinking of all the different ways to get him back for this. Maybe Mira and Erza would be up for helping her.

"I know."

* * *

As much as Lucy really hated to admit it – and she really, really did – the few hours passed relatively quickly. The three of them wandered along the lonely road, nearly hidden amidst towering trees, talking and occasionally stopping for food breaks. How Natsu and Happy could continually eat the way they did, Lucy had no idea. She had to admit, though, it _was_ sort of nice, just to be able to walk and take in the fresh air for once, without the crowds of the city.

That didn't change the fact that Lucy wished that they'd taken the train. At least on the train, she wouldn't be finding random leaves in her hair, or have insects flying in her face every few minutes. Natsu didn't even feel sorry for her. He just laughed and carried on like it was nothing like the demon he was.

"How much further is it?" Lucy asked, brushing another fly off her arm miserably. The package was stowed safely in her bag, since she didn't trust either of her two idiotic travelling companions to carry it safely to Clover.

"Not long," Natsu replied shortly, sounding like he was beginning to get annoyed with Lucy's questioning. He sniffed the air, tilting his head slightly. "We'll be there before dark."

"And we'll be there in time for dinner!" Happy cheered, raising a paw in the air. Lucy's eye twitched – it had been doing that a lot during this trip. Instead of letting the air lapse into silence, Lucy reluctantly quickened her pace and stepped up beside Natsu, glancing over at him as they walked.

"How come you hate trains so much, anyway?" she asked, unable to hide her curiosity. He obviously hated them enough that he'd rather walk all day to get to another town…

Natsu glanced at her. "We don't agree with each other," he shrugged, like it was nothing.

"He has motion sickness," Happy snickered from Natsu's shoulder, paw over his mouth. Lucy flicked her eyes back to Natsu.

"Really?" she couldn't help but ask, trying to imagine Natsu – the very much a demon Natsu – as having motion sickness. Natsu didn't look happy that Happy had revealed that.

"Only a bit," he muttered, a bit petulantly.

"You threw up all over me the last time we went up on a boat!" Happy cried, leaping into the air with his wings extended, just to point an accusing paw at Natsu.

"You shouldn't have been in my way, then!" Natsu snapped back, hands on his hips and eyes narrowed.

"And I'm sure it was the sea's fault for being there," Happy said, rolling his eyes. He turned to Lucy, paws in the air. "It was _terrible_ , Lucy!"

Before Natsu could reply, most likely to reprimand Happy or glare at him, there was a rustling sound from one of the many bushes that lined the side of the road. Natsu immediately snapped to attention, back straightening up and eyes flicking around. It was almost intimidating how quickly he switched from bickering moron to attentiveness in a split second, Lucy thought.

Natsu unexpectedly grinned slightly, and he said, "We've got some fans, Lucy."

Lucy whirled around. "What?!"

Before Natsu could explain what he meant, the bushes exploded. Quite literally, the bushes exploded into fire and ashes, revealing a group of six men and two women, staring at the three of them with manic grins. Lucy noticed that a few of them were carrying rifles, similar to what she'd seen Bisca and Alzack use.

"Bandits," Natsu said by way of explanation, his fists lighting up and casting eerie shadows across his face. The flickering made his grin dance with shadowy demons. "Some may not be able to use magic, but weapons are still deadly."

"Look what we've got here, boys," one of the females spoke up, her voice slightly muffled by the mask she wore across her nose and mouth. Her brown hair was braided carelessly across her head, and multiple streaks of dirt were visible across her face. "A couple of wizards, it seems."

A man who looked like he was closely related to a wheel laughed loudly. "What's a couple puny wizards gon' do to us, boss?" He cocked his rifle and aimed it in Natsu and Lucy's general direction. "We got these!"

The woman laughed harshly. "Take 'em out!"

Natsu grinned again, laughing under his breath. "Let's teach them a lesson, Lucy," he said, looking at her for a second. That one look was all the encouragement she needed. Any doubt she'd been feeling ebbed away, and steel determination set in.

As Natsu practically flew at half of the bandits by himself, Happy not far behind him wielding a fish as a weapon, Lucy whipped out the key for the first spirit that came to mind.

" _ **Open! Gate of the Maiden: Virgo!**_ " she shouted, shielding her eyes from the brief golden light. When the light faded, a girl with lilac hair and wearing a maid's uniform was standing there, looking very impassive.

"Hello, Princess," Virgo greeted, face not changing in the slightest. "How may I serve you?" She tilted her head slightly. "Is it punishment time?"

"What? No!" Lucy immediately protested, waving her hands frantically. "Just, go and take them out – please!"

Virgo nodded. "As you wish, Princess," she replied, digging into the ground at lightning speed. A second later, she'd dug her way up into the fray and started taking out the rest of the bandits with Natsu, and Lucy let herself smile. She turned towards Natsu, seeing him still playing around with the other bandits, for a lack of a better word.

" _ **Sparks**_ ," Natsu said lazily, and tiny red and orange flares appeared around two of the bandits, exploding a second later. They shrieked when they were launched into the air, landing several feet back from the fray, looking like they were too sore to get up again. Another bandit, the female that had been in charge, attempted to fire off her rifle at him, but another well-placed fire attack neutralised that quickly.

Before the attack had even started, it was over, and Lucy was staring at a pile of knocked out bandits. Natsu turned to her, grin widening and nearly clapping in glee.

"I knew there was a reason why you're on our team!" he declared happily, throwing an arm around Lucy's shoulders and pulling her close for a brief second. "All the fun things happen when you're around, and that was fun!" Lucy didn't really know what to say to that, because only _Natsu_ would find fighting bandits fun.

Well, him, Gray and Erza, she amended.

Natsu stared at the bandits' weapons for a long moment, expression considering, then stepped forward. He touched the pile, and the second his finger made contact with the one closest to him, all of them shattered into dust.

"That sorts out confiscating their weapons," he explained cheerfully, hands going up behind his head and fingers locking together, as though he was talking about the weather.

"Will there be punishments now, Princess?" Virgo asked, and Lucy scowled, turning to her celestial spirit.

"No," she ground out, ignoring Happy's sniggering. "Just go back, please."

"As you wish," Virgo replied, bowing. Her golden light surrounded her, and a second later, she was gone, signalling that she'd returned to the celestial spirit world. Natsu let out a delighted laugh.

"Man, Birdo's awesome!"

* * *

The slightest hint of dusk was just starting to set in by the time they reached Clover. After hours of walking and a brief break in the form of fighting bandits, Lucy had never been so happy to see the town of Clover. They paused on the outskirts, considering where to go next.

"Where did that weird guy say we can find the person?" Natsu asked, looking around expectantly.

"Somewhere outside town, apparently," Lucy replied, looking around as well. So far, there was no one around but them. With a shrug at each other, they began to look around, looking for this mysterious 'Lindsay' that they'd been sent to deliver the package to. Lucy honestly just wanted to get rid of it – having been walking with it for hours had made her hate it quite a lot.

Their target, so to speak, ended up being on the other side of town, just outside it, and underneath a large tree. The person, Lindsay, had looked startled when a group of wizards had wandered over to her, looking exhausted and relived to have found her.

"Are you Lindsay?" Lucy asked, desperately hoping that the girl was. Hesitantly, the girl nodded, eyeing them warily and preparing to call her pets if she needed to.

"THANK GOD," Natsu yelled loudly, immediately collapsing to the ground in obvious relief. Lucy jumped and glared down at him.

" _Seriously!?_ " she demanded, before turning back to Lindsay with a smile. Lindsay was watching them with a startled expression, apparently not knowing what to think of them. Lucy couldn't blame her, in all honesty. "We were sent here to deliver this to you." She reached into her bag and pulled out the package, handing it over to the red-headed girl.

Immediately, Lindsay's eyes lit up in delight, and she hugged the package to her chest as though it was the most precious thing in the world.

"Oh!" she said, grinning widely at them, eyes bright. "Thank you so much! Dad said he would be sending me more cat food soon! It's nice to have it now!"

"Wait a minute," Natsu said slowly, raising his head off the ground to look at Lindsay, where she was still hugging the package like a newborn child. "Cat food?"

"Ew," Happy said helpfully, wrinkling his nose and flying away from the package.

"Do you mean to tell me," Lucy said slowly, staring at the package – which she now knew was full of cat food, "That I have just walked all day, been covered in flies and leaves _all day_ – just to deliver _cat food?!_ " The last part of the sentence came out as a near-shriek, and Natsu and Happy covered their ears.

"Lucy's angry," Happy whispered.

Natsu just nodded, already thinking of ways to use his teleportation spell to get back to Magnolia on the way back with the angry Lucy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small original story for the break between arcs, since it's the start of the Deliora arc next chapter! Also, Schmorgen Heckengard is the made up name for Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) from the [RT Podcast](https://youtu.be/l72hlghRiv8?t=879), by the way.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, start of the Deliora arc.
> 
> (Honestly, I'm just trying to get this up to date now, so I'll probably update a couple of times in a day when I do just to speed it up. I'm still annoyed with myself.)

A month on after her first exciting job after she'd joined Fairy Tail – and after taking the job to deliver cat food to Lindsay with Natsu – Lucy found herself in the guild hall one morning. Slumped over at the bar with a glass of water, she watched as the members of her guild scurried about their business, talking amongst themselves or shouting across the building, because shouting was apparently easier than walking over and saying it to the other person.

"I don't know what to do!" she sighed sullenly, laying her head on the cool wooden bar. "Rent is due next week and I really should find work, but with Erza out of town and Natsu nowhere around…"

She trailed off in thought miserably. Ever since the incident with Eisenwald and Lullaby – the exact details of its 'goneness' had never been revealed to them – she, Natsu, Gray and Erza had naturally gravitated towards each other. More often than not, they would all take on a job together – along with Happy, of course. Lucy still had nightmares about the theatrical performance job, and she was pretty sure that Erza had stolen props from the stage. Why, no one wanted to know.

"Is something the matter, Lu?" came a voice from her right. Lucy moved her head just enough to be able to see through her hair.

Sitting beside her, bright eyed and smiling as always, was Levy McGarden. Lucy had met her about a week after she'd become a guild member, and she'd immediately been drawn to Levy's bubbling happiness, her ever-present love for books that rivalled Lucy's. Apparently, she had been on a job with Natsu right before Lucy had met him in Hargeon. Levy had also been promised rights to be first person to read her novel, once it was finished.

"I need rent money," Lucy whimpered, a bit of her soul leaving her body at the thought of parting with that amount of money.

Levy laughed sympathetically. "I know how you feel," she replied, running a hand through her shockingly blue hair. "I'm looking for a job myself for Team Shadow Gear to take." She nodded over to a table on the other side of the guild hall where her team mates, Jet and Droy, were sitting. "Why don't you take a job with Natsu?" She smiled. "I thought that was what you guys did."

"I haven't seen him all day," Lucy said dejectedly. A second later, her brain coined the last thing Levy said. "And what's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, trying to subtly glare whilst not actually glaring.

"Nothing, nothing!" Levy laughed again, waving her hands innocently. Lucy settled back down, watching her. "He might be on the second floor then."

Lucy just sighed again, leaning her forehead on the bar counter again. In the past month, she'd learned a few things about Fairy Tail and its members. The first, and most prevalent, being that the majority of her guild mates were just a little bit insane. The guild was also under the constant threat of breaking out into a brawl at any given moment.

Like that very moment, for instance.

Something smashed against the bar, and Lucy shot upright with a screech. She nearly toppled off her barstool in the process, and did a great impression of Happy whilst trying to keep her balance.

" ** _MANLY ATTACK_ _!_** " came Elfman's voice, and both Lucy and Levy looked around at the guildhall. Elfman was facing Gray, arm transformed into stone.

"I don't see you doing any attacking, big guy," Gray taunted, swiftly dodging Elfman's punch. " ** _Ice make: hammer_ _!_** "

Unfortunately, Elfman dodged at the last moment, and the ice hammer ended up sending Max into the ground. As the hammer broke apart, Max got up, looking furious that he'd been dragged into this.

" ** _Sandstorm_ _!_** " he shouted. Immediately, a barrage of sand went whirling towards Gray, whipping up stray papers in its path. While Max's sandstorm revenge did, in fact, get Gray, it had also gotten Cana in its grip.

"Why can't I ever drink in peace at this guild?!" she demanded angrily, whirling around in her seat and throwing her glass in Max's general direction. Which ended up hitting Laki. Soon, Lucy was watching another all-out brawl, complete with flying furniture, magic and Gray's clothes being removed.

"Oh dear, they're at it again," Mira said cheerfully, appearing out of nowhere behind the bar.

"Why does this always happen?" Lucy asked miserably, ducking to the side to avoid a table leg flying at her.

"We wouldn't be Fairy Tail without our brawls," Levy pointed out, a fond smile in place. She looked like she was going to expand on the point, but at that moment, she ended up being caught in the crossfire between one of Gray's ice makes and Laki's strange wood makes. Levy blinked, then storm clouds immediately gathered around her face. " ** _Solid script: drill_ _!_** " she shouted, pointing at the fray. Lucy could only watch as a giant drill formed out of Levy's words and made its way through the brawling wizards.

There was another smash at the other side of the hall, and the sound of something softer falling to the ground. Immediately, Lucy felt as though the air in the room had suddenly become colder. She slowly turned to look towards that side, and saw Erza slowly getting up. On the ground beside her was a piece of smashed strawberry cake.

_Oh no_.

"When will you all learn to _grow up_?!" Erza shouted, and she quickly requipped into one of her various armours. Lucy could only watch as she practically _flew_ into the fray of fighting wizards, swords out and shining.

Just as it seemed that they would have no furniture left, or walls or doors, Lucy saw two figures appear on the balcony of the second floor. One taller than the other, they simply watched for a moment, before the taller shouted, " **SHUT IT! I CAN'T HEAR MYSELF THINK!** " A growl of thunder and a flicker of lightning accompanied the statement, and it was like a switch had been flipped. Everyone in the guild froze, turning to stare up.

A beat, then: "Geez, overkill much?" Natsu laughed, hands on the railing. Even from this distance, Lucy could see Laxus roll his eyes.

"Come on idiot, we need to get going," he replied, sounding exasperated and so very done with his day already. And it wasn't even lunchtime yet. That had to be a new record, Lucy thought.

Natsu fist pumped. "Aw yeah, Team Lightning Flame is back in action! Come on, Happy!"

"Aye, sir!"

Ignoring him, Laxus disappeared in a flash of lightning, leaving the faint roll of thunder behind. Natsu and Happy followed suit, vanishing in a puff of flames and leaving the faint smell of burnt wood behind. Lucy heard the sound of knuckles being cracked to her side, and she looked over. Gray was staring up at the spot, looking annoyed.

"Why does he always have all the fun?" he muttered, crossing his arms. Apparently, he hadn't noticed that he was missing all of his clothes. Including his underwear this time. "Fire breathing moron."

"I guess I won't be going on a job today, then," Lucy said dejectedly, slumping against the bar. She could feel her willpower leaving her the longer she stayed here.

A glint entered Gray's eye, and Lucy was suddenly worried. "I have an idea." He turned to Lucy, ignoring her squawk, and said in a low tone, "See the second floor?" When Lucy nodded, he continued, "There's a request board up there. Jobs that pay more. Wanna go on one with me?"

"But only S-Class wizards are allowed on those ones!" Lucy hissed out, hoping no one was around to hear their conversation. Her eyes darted around to make sure, even so.

That was another thing she'd learned about the guild in her first month of being a member. Only S-Class wizards were allowed on the second floor of the guild hall, and there were only a handful of wizards who were qualified as such, Natsu being one of them. Those wizards also took on jobs that were more difficult than the jobs on the request board.

"So we'll steal one," Gray grinned, leaning on the bar far too casually for the nature of the discussion. "And we'll show flames for brains up when we complete it."

"Okay," Lucy said, finally managing to find her voice. She pushed herself away from the bar and stood up, her bones protesting momentarily at the change. "I'm just gonna go home."

* * *

She was halfway home, humming to herself and absent-mindedly checking things off her mental list of things to do when she heard two voices calling her. Turning around, she found Gray chasing after her, accompanied by Elfman for some reason. In his hand was a piece of paper. Paper that looked suspiciously like a job request…

"You didn't," Lucy groaned, feeling a headache coming on. To think she'd thought she could avoid a headache today, what with Natsu being gone and leaving her to do nothing.

Gray smirked, jacket gone in a flash once again.

"Elfman's already said he'll come along as well," he said, nodding at their guild mate. "And the job's really highly paying. We get to go to an island…" He trailed off, waving the paper in what seemed to be a tantalising attempt.

Lucy waved her hands frantically. "No!" she said firmly, lowering her hands after a second and putting them on her hips. "I'm not getting in trouble with you for this!"

"Not even for the additional reward?"

Okay, Lucy was curious. "Additional reward?"

"A golden zodiac key. Those are rare, right?"

By the way Gray was smirking and holding the job request out to her, Lucy knew that he knew he had her. How could she turn down the chance to get a golden key?

"What if we run into Natsu and Laxus?" she asked, trying once more to be strong and not give in, although that was quickly crumbling at the prospect of the golden key.

Gray just laughed. " _Please_. We're going to an island. What are the chances that we'd run into those two idiots there?"

* * *

" ** _Lightning dragon's chains_ _!_** "

" ** _Fire dragon's retribution_ _!_** "

The two powerful attacks combined on the charging monster, great chains made of quivering electricity merging with a fiery blast that shook the ground for miles around. The monster turned, and Natsu darted out of the way, disappearing in a flash of flames as it charged towards him. He reappeared behind it, grinning away.

"Man, I haven't been able to relax like this for a while," he remarked idly, watching Laxus shoot the creature with more lightning bolts.

The creature they were trying to subdue was a wyvern, a distant relative of the dragons. While the wyverns were smaller than their more draconic counterparts, they had also lost nearly everything that made them dragons, from their intelligence to their sense of pride – in Natsu's opinion, anyway. He remembered the stories that Igneel would tell him about when the wyverns first appeared, born of dragons twisted from the experiments of dark wizards. Unfortunately, whilst wyverns weren't particularly intelligent, they were thick skinned, in the most literal way possible.

"Thanks for coming with me," he added, quickly throwing a " ** _Fire dragon's iron fist_ _!_** " at the wyvern when it looked his way again.

"No problem," Laxus grunted, his attention half on eliminating their target. He raised his hands and a barrage of lightning poured down from the skies, flashing bright yellow and white and crackling. " ** _Lightning dragon's roar_ _!_** "

" ** _Fire dragon's shattering flame_**." A burst of bright red flames shot up from the ground towards the wyvern, burning everything in its path. As soon as it touched the creature, after the barrage of their other magical attacks, it seemed to weaken to the point where one more attack would finally end their battle against it. Natsu raised a hand. " ** _Banish_**." Small, sparkle-like flames appeared around the wyvern and immediately exploded, sending the creature backwards in a cloud of smoke and dust.

Laxus walked over to Natsu, and they watched the area as the smoke cleared. The wyvern didn't get back up again.

"It feels good to be able to use my slayer magic," Laxus commented, stretching slightly and cracking his knuckles. Natsu was impressed that his coat had stayed on during the fight and hadn't taken any hits.

"And my curses," Natsu agreed. He walked over to the fallen wyvern and plucked a scale from its hide, then tucking it safely inside his pocket. "We should do this more often, shock head."

Laxus smirked slightly. "Well, I can't deny that it's been fun. I may take you up on that." They started walking away from the smoking wyvern, Happy now joining them again since there wasn't fire and lightning flying everywhere every few seconds. "You said you wanted to talk to me about something, anyway?"

Natsu snapped his fingers as he remembered the original point of coming here with Laxus. "Right! I did!" Happy snickered, and Laxus just stared stonily at him, waiting for whatever he was going to say. "So ever since the Lullaby incident, I've been tracking the activities of Zeref's demons."

"So?"

"So I picked up something from this place. Ah, where was it again. Island of Saloons or something?" Natsu asked, turning to Happy.

"It's Galuna Island, Natsu," Happy supplied helpfully, flying around the two. He stopped in front of them, hovering mid-air. "Wasn't there a job request on that island?"

Natsu glanced at his flying friend. "Probably," he shrugged. "I just want to be able to move around without anyone seeing us."

Laxus actually laughed. Natsu turned to glare at him. "You can't be serious. I don't think I've ever seen you sneak anything past Erza, let alone an entire island."

Natsu kept his unimpressed expression up. "You don't know what Igneel is like," he said bluntly. _Or the rest of the demonic extended family_ , he added silently. "Anyway, it'll be easier to sneak around if we're not having to go to a client first, right?"

"He's got you there," Happy piped up. Laxus ignored him.

"You said it's on Galuna Island," he said, expression thoughtful. Natsu nodded, and Laxus seemed to make his mind up on something. "I'll see you there, then."

With that, he vanished in a crack of lightning, leaving nothing but only the faint smell of burning behind. Natsu just laughed. "Let's go, Happy," he said cheerfully, flames igniting around him – the tell-tale sign of his Hell's Gate curse. The moment Happy had landed on top of Natsu's hair, they too vanished in a puff of flames.


	9. Chapter 9

Galuna Island was a rather nice place, a tropical island about an hour or so off the main coast. Natsu wasn't entirely sure what he'd been expecting when he reappeared, flames immediately dissipating around him and Happy. Maybe palm trees and white sand beaches, like a stereotypical tropical island paradise, since he knew nothing about the island, other than the name?

What he wasn't expecting was for the sudden crushing weight of power, so heavy and dark and familiar, coming from somewhere on the island. Blinking, Natsu turned to look at Laxus, standing off to the side with his arms folded, frowning.

"Can you feel that?" he asked, sniffing the air. Not much to the gleaned from the air at their current position. The smell of the sea and new trees got in the way of anything that might be useful.

Laxus nodded, still frowning heavily. "Yeah," he grunted, eyes narrowed. "This is what you were talking about?"

"Yeah. It's definitely here."

The two stood in silence for a moment, Happy hovering between them worriedly, before Natsu said, "I guess we should start looking for it then."

Happy nodded. "Aye, sir."

Laxus made a non-committal noise of agreement. Natsu took it as a yes.

* * *

"So that's Galuna Island?"

"Apparently," Gray replied, nodding. Lucy shivered, looking back at the foreboding island off in the distance. The waves rocked the boat beneath them, sending splashes of sea salt onto her face. The only thing that made this trip more bearable was the fact that they'd left Elfman back in Hargeon, something down to him having a 'manly change of mind'. The two of them wondered if the 'manly change of mind' was anything to do with his sister, Mirajane.

Seeing the island now, though, Lucy couldn't blame him. She half-wished that she'd stayed behind, as well.

"It looks nice?" Lucy tried half-heartedly. Even to her, it sounded fake.

Before Gray could reply, the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse, and the waves picked up around them.

"What the - ! I didn't even summon Aquarius!" Lucy shouted over the harsh winds, not daring to take her hands over the sides of the boat. Her hair whipped into her eyes, and she tried to blink it out carefully. One look at Gray told her that he was in a similar situation.

And as for the fisherman bringing them to the island? Well, he was just gone. Which was just great.

"Just hold on!" Gray shouted back, right as the boat splintered from the force of the waves. Whatever happened after falling into freezing sea water, Lucy had no idea.

When she next woke up, Lucy was lying on a beach in the sun, bits of the broken boat around her. Blinking confusedly, she sat up, shaking the bits of sand out of her hair, and immediately spotted Gray lying nearby. Standing up, she looked around. It didn't seem to look as bad when you were actually standing on the island, rather than when you were looking at the island from a distance away.

"Cursed island, huh?" came Gray's voice, and Lucy turned to look at him. "At least they got that bit right. I'm just glad flame brain's not with us."

Lucy laughed. "Yeah, he'd probably want to go exploring." She pulled her map out of her backpack, which had dried up in the sun and looked at it. Somehow, both had survived their watery entrance to the island, but Lucy didn't bother to question how. "There's only one village on the island, and it was the village chief who put the job request out."

"So I guess we should go there first," Gray nodded, "Makes sense. Then we can find out what we're doing."

Lucy mentally sighed, resisting the urge to remind Gray that being here was his idea. Instead, they started walking in the direction that the map pointed. Every so often, Lucy would see brightly coloured birds and flowers, or strange markings in the trees and ground. At one point, when they reached a large clearing, she saw what looked like scorch marks lightly burned into the ground.

"Creepy," she muttered to herself, and mentally shook herself, forcing herself to keep moving on. About ten minutes later, just as night was about to break, the first sign of the village came into view: a giant fence that stretched about halfway to the sky, designed, it seemed, to keep intruders out. Lucy privately wondered who'd be suicidal enough to come to this island on a normal day-to-day basis.

Stopping just before the enormous gate, Lucy and Gray looked at each other.

"Hello?" Lucy tried calling up at it, waving as an extra measure. "We're wizards from Fairy Tail! We're here to help you!"

There was the faint sound of shuffling from the top, and two silhouetted figures appeared at the top of the gate.

"You're from Fairy Tail?" one asked, sounding sceptical.

"Yes," Lucy nodded.

"Then how come we didn't receive any notification that the job had been accepted?"

"Well – "

"There was probably a mix up with the paperwork," Gray answered for her smoothly, and Lucy sent him a grateful look. The two guards seemed to accept that, and immediately asked to see their guild emblems. Showing off her guild mark still gave Lucy a thrill even a month later.

Once they were through the village gate, they were met by a crowd of hooded villagers. By observing them, Lucy guessed that the shortest one seemed to be the chief of the village, something that was confirmed when he started explaining their curse to her and Gray, showed them the terrifying transformation they went through every night – inwardly, she wondered if Natsu experienced pain if he transformed into a demon form – and told them of how some villagers had lost their minds to the curse. How they'd had to put some of those people out of their misery because they'd become a danger to themselves and the people around them.

"The moon must be destroyed," the chief said finally, voice heavy with his tale.

Gray and Lucy blinked, and suddenly they were off to the guest house for the night with the impossible task of destroying the moon ahead of them.

"So we're… going to destroy the moon?" Lucy asked, closing the window blinds to block out any moonbeams. Call her superstitious, but she was _not_ taking any chances. Gray sighed and tilted his head back, looking at the ceiling.

"We can't destroy the moon. It's not possible to," Gray replied tiredly. He turned and threw himself onto his sleeping bag, mumbling out a, " _We'll look into it more in the morning_ ," before dropping off in an instant.

Lucy stared for a moment, bemused, before shrugging. "I'm pretty tired as well. I guess I'll get some sleep as well," she said aloud, climbing under her own blankets with what she hoped was more grace than what Gray had done.

Lying in her sleeping bag, thoughts of the curse and the demonic forms filled her mind again. Which then flitted to thoughts of Natsu, and she wondered if her demonic friend had a more demony form. It was a thought that she'd had a few times ever since the Lullaby incident, when Natsu had brought up demons having 'second forms', but he'd always somehow avoided the topic of his own hypothetical demon form. Lucy had to admit, she was curious to know if he had one.

With those thoughts and Gray's moderately loud snoring, she managed to fall into a restless sleep.

* * *

"Remind me why we needed to be up early for this again," Gray groaned in protest, rubbing the back of his neck as he stumbled along behind Lucy.

"You kept waking me up half the night with your snoring and you don't see me complaining about being up early," Lucy retorted, too annoyed to put up with Gray's sadness at the lack of sleep. All through the night, she'd been woken up at random points by snoring, so he was _not going to complain about this._

"Hopefully we'll find something that'll give us some more clues today," Gray said, changing the topic.

"So we don't have to destroy the moon, you mean," Lucy muttered, eyes scanning the areas for anything that might stick out. Her eyes landed on a bit of the ground that had been scorched, like the area back near the village. Looking at that general area properly, Lucy could see that there were smaller scorch marks on the tree trunks as well. "Scorch marks here as well?" she asked aloud, frowning. She suddenly had a bad feeling about them.

Gray knelt down to examine the ones on the ground. "Looks like someone's been here recently," he said, touching them briefly before standing again.

Continuing their walk, they eventually came across a downed giant rat in a hat and a tutu at what looked like an exit to the forest.

" _What the hell is that thing_?!" Lucy nearly shrieked, jumping back a step in complete surprise. Her senses kicked in a second later, and she joined Gray in looking the creature over, frowning. "And why is it knocked out cold?"

"Look here," Gray said, pointing at the rat's side. "More scorch marks." Sure enough, there they were, blackened into the bright blue fur. "But there's more burn marks that don't look like they've been made by fire here. Look." He pointed at the rat's other side, and Lucy could see what Gray meant. Whilst the other marks were clearly fire of origin, these ones seemed to come from somewhere else. Maybe lightning…

An uneasy feeling began to unfurl inside Lucy's stomach, although she couldn't explain it.

"There's a temple," Gray nodded ahead of them, breaking Lucy's chain of thought. "Maybe we can find some answers in there."

Walking into the dark temple, Lucy squinted as she felt her eyes adjust, then she stared at the walls around them. Pictures of the moon, but otherwise bare.

"Temple of the moon. Island of the moon," Lucy murmured, still looking around.

"I feel like this curse is connected to the moon somehow, but not in the way that the villagers think," Gray said, scowling. Lucy continued scanning the room, and her eyes widened when she found a hole in the floor.

"Gray, look," she pointed at the offending crack. Gray followed the point and hummed in response. "Either someone's been investigating this before us, or the ones responsible are really dumb."

They both walked over to the hole and looked down the hole. From the looks of things, the hole seemed to go down a long way. Lucy glanced down it nervously.

"What do you think we should do?" she asked, but before anything else could be said, there was a rumble from beneath their feet. "What – " The floor suddenly gave way beneath them, cracks that had slowly been extending from the hole connecting together around Lucy and Gray. With a scream and yell, they fell into darkness.

Somehow, she ended up being uninjured. Lucy wasn't sure what she landed on. Judging by the slight pains in her back, she guessed it was a pile of rocks that had slightly softened her fall. To her side, Gray emerged from another pile, looking less than impressed at their latest predicament.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, glancing over at her as he hauled himself out of the rocks. He looked up at the broken part of the ceiling and scowled.

"No," Lucy replied, walking out onto flat ground. Down where they were, very little light shone down the hole they'd fallen. "Maybe we should start walking? We can't stay here."

"Yeah…"

Lucy looked around as best she could again, and she and Gray set off in the only direction that seemed to lead somewhere. In the silence, their footsteps seemed loud and echoing, small stones being kicked out of the way. The long tunnel they were walking down eventually seemed to get lighter, and eventually opened up to a cave.

"What the hell is this?" Gray asked, looking back at the tunnel then forward again.

"This is all underneath the temple?" Lucy questioned, frowning lightly as they started walking again, looking around. As they rounded a corner, Lucy saw a glint of something, and they came upon a huge block of ice. Coming closer to it, she could see a form in it, something huge and monstrous and everything that looked like a nightmare personified.

"What the…" she murmured, trailing off as she stared at it. The air around her began to freeze unexpectedly, and she turned to Gray in surprise. To her shock, his face was full of horror.

"No. There's no way. It can't be. What's it doing _here_?" he said, almost growling as the horror turned to rage. Lucy shivered as the air turned colder.

"Gray, what is it? What is that thing?" Lucy asked, almost afraid to know.

"A demon," Gray spat viciously, voice full of hate. "The demon of destruction."

"Deliora, to be precise," another voice from behind them answered, and both Gray and Lucy whipped around at the voice. Lucy felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.

Watching them from a short distance away were Natsu, Happy and Laxus. Small bits of lightning seemed to dance of Laxus's overcoat, illuminating him in the relative dark and giving him a terrifying look.

"That's the demon Deliora," Natsu repeated, nodding at the giant creature in the ice, eyes blazing like fire in the dark. Lucy really didn't like the look that Laxus was giving her and Gray.

_We're screwed_ , Lucy immediately thought.


	10. Chapter 10

Natsu's strange feeling about Galuna Island and the strange readings he'd been getting from it had proven correct, as he and Laxus had found within a day of being on the island. After fighting the giant rat thing that they'd run into on their way here – really, Natsu wouldn't call it a fight, not after the wyvern that just didn't want to give up – they'd come across the old temple. Natsu had accidentally created the hole in the floor that led to the cave beneath the temple, and while admittedly he hadn't been aiming to do that, it had all worked out.

And now Lucy and Gray were here.

"Lucy! Gray!" Happy chirped up, waving cheerfully from Laxus's side as the three of them moved towards the other two. "I didn't expect to find you guys here!"

"Yes," Laxus said slowly, staring at them darkly. Natsu saw a shiver go through Lucy's arms, one that had nothing to do with the cold air. "Not when the job request for this island back at the guild was for _S-Class_."

"Why are we worrying about that now when _DELIORA IS RIGHT THERE!_ " Gray shouted, pointing at the block of ice in front of them. Natsu turned his gaze on the ice and, in turn, Deliora. He wrinkled his nose. Deliora hadn't changed a bit, still just as monstrous and barbaric as he remembered.

"Hate to say it but Frosty's right," Natsu agreed, taking a step closer to the demon. He looked back at Gray. "How do you know Deliora?"

Gray seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, but he eventually managed to steel himself, expression hard as ice. "Deliora destroyed my hometown, on the northern continent," he said, looking up at the demon. "There were no survivors, except for me. Then, ten years ago, my master – the wizard who taught me my magic – Ur, she sealed the demon away in that ice. She sacrificed everything to seal it away."

Natsu stared back up at Deliora again, and Lucy said, "Your master sounds amazing."

Gray just nodded silently, lapsing back into silence. Before Natsu could think to say anything else, his sharpened hearing picked up the sounds of other people slowly coming towards them. Telling this to the others, the five of them all quickly hid behind a pile of fallen rocks. Soon, the disembodied voices had people to match them with: a girl with pink hair, a guy with wolfish features and a guy with some serious eyebrows.

"Something terrible has happened," the girl said, sounding heartbroken and looking down. "Someone has hurt Angelica."

"Nobody cares about your stupid rat!" the wolf one snapped. The three of them stopped in the centre of the cavern, looking at Deliora. Natsu could hear Gray grinding his teeth from where he was crouched.

"There are signs of intruders, though," Eyebrows pointed out coolly, sounding far more put together than either of his friends. "We should find and exterminate them before we continue with the Moon Drip ceremony tonight."

"Yes, we should do that for the Cold Emperor, for love," the girl agreed. The wolf one looked annoyed at her, but settled on saying nothing.

"I say we take 'em," Natsu muttered to the others. "We can get them to tell us about Deliora. They must have him here for a reason."

"Tch." Laxus just bashed him on the head, knocking him to the ground. "Or we can wait here and see what they mean by ceremony tonight, idiot."

"They've gone!" Lucy informed them. She sunk down to the floor against the pile of rocks and sighed. "So are we really going to wait here all day?"

"Well, _I_ don't want to," Natsu replied, grimacing at the thought and pulling at his scarf. Happy hovered nearby, frowning worriedly. "It's midday, and I wanna smash their heads together and get some answers!"

Laxus smashed _him_ on the head again, and Natsu sighed. "Right, right. Gotta wait until night." Dejectedly, he sat down near his fellow slayer and started pushing pebbles around. "You okay, Happy?" he asked his flying companion as he felt the cat land next to him.

"Aye," the cat replied, his wings disappearing and pulling a fish out of his pack.

"So – erm – what are you guys doing here, anyway?" Lucy asked, watching them. The light from the block of ice containing Deliora shone brightly in the dim cavern, and it reflected off of Lucy's keys.

"We were tracking a demon of Zeref," Laxus said bluntly. Lucy went pale, and Laxus continued. "That one, to be precise."

"Technically, we were tracking a trail it had left behind," Natsu continued, putting his hands behind his head. Damn, rocks didn't make for good pillows. "Whoever moved it here doesn't know that much about Zeref's demons as a whole."

"I don't need to know about Zeref to know that this has to be stopped," Gray growled, glaring at the ground. "I won't let them tarnish Ur's name!"

"Gray…" Lucy said softly, trailing off as Gray continued. Apparently, he hadn't heard her.

"I won't let them throw away the sacrifice she made!" Lucy tentatively put a hand on his shoulder and threw Natsu a panicked look.

"We won't let them," she said softly, so assuring. It made Natsu smile, remember his days with Igneel and maybe even – no. He mentally shook himself. Down here with Deliora definitely wasn't the time and place to be thinking about that.

Definitely not, and not ever if he could ever help it.

* * *

The day seemed to be taking an exceedingly long time to pass on by. It was a thought Natsu had had multiple times throughout the day as he'd stayed propped against his rock, Happy dozing by his side. Lucy had summoned Lyra, one of her celestial spirits, for a bit to sing for them, but all that had done was just bring up emotions that Natsu had thought long buried, along with his ever-present turmoil over finding Igneel again.

Looking at Gray, it seemed Lyra's song had had a similar effect on him as well. As Gray and Lucy started talking, he let himself fall back into his thoughts again. Something that had been bothering him a lot lately was the fact that other demons had been becoming active again lately, ever since he'd taken care of Lullaby. Dealing with Deliora would be one thing, if it came down to it, but Natsu didn't exactly relish the thought of encountering Tartaros again.

That was one guild he stayed far away from.

As Lyra continued her singing, continued playing her harp, Natsu's thoughts shifted again. Once again, he was dredging up memories, and as Lyra's song wrapped around him like a magnet, forcing them to the surface, Natsu thought about a different time, when he'd been with Igneel. Remembered a brother he'd once known, and now could never see.

"Natsu?" That was Lucy's voice, sounding so concerned. Why was she concerned? It was Gray who was having the emotional turmoil, not him. He turned to look at her, found her watching him closely. "Is everything okay? Are you okay?"

Pushing the memories aside, Natsu smiled. "I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be?"

"One of Lyra's talents is singing songs that relate to what her audience is feeling," Lucy said, glancing around at everyone. Natsu followed her gaze, and could see that Gray's inner turmoil was still raging on, strong as ever. For some reason, Laxus looked deep in thought, almost pained.

"Did her song make you sad?" Happy asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.

_Yes, you have no idea how much. I just want to see my family again. Igneel. Even Zer–_

"Maybe we should put the harp away," Laxus suggested, voice coming out like gravel. "It wouldn't exactly be great if they heard our sing along."

Gray nodded, the motion somewhat robotic. "He's right," he agreed. Lyra pouted.

"You're all so mean," she said, reluctantly putting her harp away back… wherever she'd got it from. Celestial spirit space, Natsu guessed.

"Hey, guys?" Happy asked, sounding apprehensive. "What's that?" He was pointing towards the giant ice block that contained Deliora, and Natsu followed the paw. His eyes widened. Purple magic circles were appearing above the ice block, one on top of the other, and light was streaming through them, straight onto the ice below them.

"Magic circles?" Lucy wondered, getting up and looking at them. Gray was clenching his fists.

"We should go and look further upstairs," Laxus said, nodding upwards. Natsu nodded, and Gray's expression steeled. Quickly, they made their way out of the cavern that contained Deliora, following Natsu's sharp sense of smell even through the darkness, and up into the temple again. On the first floor of the temple, where Natsu had accidentally stomped through the floor after his and Laxus's fight with the giant rat, there were more magic circles. "More magic circles?" Laxus asked, staring at them in thought.

"Further up," Gray said quickly, and they quickly ascended up the temple, finding more magic circles as they got near the top. On the roof of the temple, they came across a group of hooded people chanting what seemed to be a strange spell, and even more magic circles that went straight up into the sky. They all quickly ducked behind a crumbling wall, watching the hooded people.

"What does this mean?" Lucy asked, peeking over the top of the wall at the other people. "First the circles, now these people?"

"Magic circles beaming light down through the temple of the moon, on the island of the moon," Laxus muttered, clenching his fist so hard lightning began to crackle. "And one of the idiots from before mentioned Moon Drip…"

"Oh, I see what they're doing," Lyra said quietly, looking over the wall as well.

" ** _Why are you still here?!_** " Lucy demanded shrilly, staring at her celestial spirit with wide eyes. Lyra ignored her.

"They're casting the Moon Drip," Lyra continued, not taking her eyes off the chanters in front of them. "It's an ancient Belianese spell that converts the light of the moon into pure magic energy. They must be using it to melt the ice down below us and revive the demon."

" _Melt the ice?!_ " Gray nearly exploded. Natsu glanced between him and the people chanting warily. "Ur cast Iced Shell on that thing! It can't be melted!"

"I hate to say it, but it _can_. Focused moonlight can break any spell."

Gray looked lost for words, eyes angry as he struggled to form a sentence. "Why would they want to melt the ice?! Why would they want to free that monster?!" he demanded, clenching his fists. Ice was beginning to form around them. "Those idiots have no idea what they're dealing with!"

"Well, maybe if we're quieter, _we'll find out_!" Laxus said darkly, glaring them all into silence.

"Somebody's coming!" Lucy hissed, and they all quickly ducked below their makeshift cover. Within a minute, the sound of approaching footsteps made them all look to the side, and Natsu narrowed his eyes.

Someone in a really elaborate get-up, a man judging by the scent he was getting a whiff of, was walking towards the chanters. What seemed to stand out most about him was the helmet he wore: it covered all of the top part of his face, had horns coming out of the side of it, and, to top it all off, had a huge plume of feathers on the top of it. Natsu had never seen anything so stupid, and he'd seen some pretty stupid things during his time at Fairy Tail. He was accompanied by the three people they'd seen down in the cavern earlier; the man that looked like a dog, Eyebrows and the pink haired girl.

"So that must be their Cold Emperor," Laxus mused, glancing around the corner of the wall.

"Man, I'm so tired," Eyebrows complained, yawning heavily. "Awake all afternoon and we didn't even find any intruders!"

The dogman, who seemed to have been sleepwalking, suddenly woke up and shouted, " _DID THEY EVEN EXIST IN THE FIRST PLACE?!_ "

"It's so sad, Cold Emperor," the girl said, sounding like she was in a tragedy. "There seemed to be intruders this afternoon, but they somehow escaped us." She closed her eyes and let out a small sniffle. "I have no right to speak of love at a time like this."

"Will you shut up about love!" the dogman shouted irritably. The so-called Cold Emperor, however, tilted his head slightly.

"Intruders?" he asked lightly.

Gray let out a strangled noise, and Lucy frowned. "So is that the Cold Emperor?" she asked. "Weird mask he's wearing…"

"I think it looks cool," Happy chimed in.

"You would do, cat."

"Have they been able to finish reviving Deliora yet?" the Cold Emperor asked, glancing back at his minions.

"They say that the ceremony should be complete either tonight or tomorrow," the girl answered, and the Cold Emperor tilted his head again, seeming thoughtful.

"Well, WHICH ONE IS IT?" the dogman shouted at her. The girl ignored him, her attention devoted entirely to the masked man.

"Then the time has nearly come," he said softly. He turned to look at the girl, and said, "As for these intruders…"

"Most likely some nosey villagers, Cold Emperor," she immediately answered, looking around as though she expected her imaginary nosy villagers to pop up around them. "They're the only ones left on the island now, aside from us. Most likely having stayed out of _love_." The dogman gave her another irritated look.

"I see," the Cold Emperor replied quietly, turning back to oversee the chanting. "In that case, _eliminate them_."

Natsu could feel the world slow down around him with those words, feel the blood in his veins turn cold. "What?" he asked hoarsely, gripping a broken part of the floor so tightly that it shattered. The cold in his veins turned to rage. This masked freak was going to kill the entire village based on speculation? Hell, _this masked freak was going to kill an entire village of innocents?_

"But the villagers have nothing to do with this!" Lucy protested, gripping at her keys.

The Cold Emperor resumed speaking again, in that cool and collected tone that had begun to piss Natsu off so much. "While I dislike bloodshed," he said lightly, "I will have nothing coming between me and my dream."

Gray's jaw was clenched tightly, and he was shaking from what seemed to be pure rage. "That voice…" he hissed out, trembling. "It has to be him… _Lyon_!"


	11. Chapter 11

Lucy stared from their hiding spot at the Cold Emperor, shaking slightly in a way that had nothing to do with the cold emanating from Gray. She clenched her jaw and gripped more tightly at her gate keys, the cool metal somehow reassuring.

_They're going to… No, they can't just kill the villagers!_ she thought wildly. Beside her, Natsu suddenly jumped up and over the crumbling wall, Happy following him.

"HEY MORONS!" he yelled, and Lucy winced at the volume, and at the hint of anger she caught in his voice. "We're the intruders you want!"

"Aye! So just leave the village alone!" Happy added, flying in what Lucy thought Happy thought was a threatening manner. Laxus sighed heavily.

"I guess we're doing this," Lucy sighed, jumping out from behind cover to join her friends in standing off against the Cold Emperor. A tiny part of her was relieved that Natsu had jumped in, though. They, at least, were all wizards and could all defend themselves, which was more than she could say for the villagers.

"AH! INTRUDERS!" the strange man with dog ears yelled, pointing at them. The guy with monstrously huge eyebrows sighed at him but said nothing.

"You have no reason to attack the village now, Lyon," Gray growled, stance ready for a fight. Everyone glanced at him, puzzled, especially when the masked moron began to chuckle coolly.

"Oh Gray, still so naïve," he said, casting them all a glance. Happy looked at Gray, confused.

"You know this guy?" he asked, gesturing with his paws for extra emphasis. At the same time, the Cold Emperor's minions turned to him with questioning looks.

"Is this a friend of yours?" Eyebrows asked, raising one of his monstrous eyebrows.

"We used to be friends," Gray answered, staring steadily at the helmeted man, glare seeming to get heavier by the second. Lucy shivered and unconsciously edged closer to Natsu, where heat seemed to emanate from like a beacon.

"No. We simply studied under the same master," the Cold Emperor – Lyon, Gray had called him – sneered. "Although I was always the superior student." He glanced back at his minions with a cool look on his face. "Well? What are you all standing around for? _Go and eradicate the village!_ "

The three jumped into action immediately. "Right away, boss!" the dog eared man shouted.

Laxus stepped forward, scowling heavily, and lightning rained down on Lyon's companions in an attempt to stop them, lighting up the area. Lucy jumped back a bit at the ferocity of the lightning bolts, watching with awe. Just as Laxus went to step forward again, the air around him seemed to freeze, and within a few moments, he was encased in ice. Small bolts of lightning were coming off of his hands, which had remained free, and his hair was standing up on end as though static electricity was running through it.

Lucy didn't know whether to laugh or stare in shock.

Laxus looked like he was going to murder someone.

Natsu glanced between Lyon, Gray and Lucy, frowning, and seemed to make a decision. Turning to Happy, he said, "Get Lucy out of here!"

"Wait, what?!" Lucy turned around, hand going to her keys, ready to fight alongside her friends to stop this insane Cold Emperor. Before she could summon any of her spirits, though, she felt the ground beneath her feet drop, and the wind blowing through her hair as Happy lifted her into the sky. He turned, and started flying in the direction of the village.

"Wait!" she shouted, torn between looking up at Happy and looking back at the quickly disappearing temple, where her friends were, facing down someone who was clearly psychotic. "What about Natsu? And Laxus and Gray? We can't just leave them!"

"Laxus was hit by a type of ice magic that freezes the air around him," Happy said tightly. Lucy felt his paws tighten up for a second before relaxing again to something more comfortable. "If we'd had stuck around, we'd have been turned into ice as well!"

Lucy twisted around, trying to see Happy's face as she began to understand why his tone was so bitter all of a sudden. Her heart sank at the look on his face.

"If we get turned into ice, then who's going to save the village?" he demanded, flying slightly jerky.

Lucy was silent for a moment, eventually replying with, "I'm sorry, Happy. I know how hard it must have been, leaving him behind like that." Happy nodded silently, his face set in an upset grimace. "But he's the Salamander! And nothing will happen to that demon, right?"

That seemed to perk Happy up. "Yeah!"

* * *

Gray watched Lucy and Happy fly away, back towards the village, with a feeling like relief. At least some of them were relatively safe for now.

"Clever," Lyon commented idly, staring at them. "You distracted me long enough for them to escape. Clever, but ultimately futile." He turned his gaze on Natsu, who was still unfrozen and next to Laxus. Laxus who looked like he was going to explode from pent up thunder and lightning. Gray took a step away from him just in case. "Interesting. My spell doesn't seem to work on you."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Natsu sneered, sharpened fangs showing for a second. Gray blinked. It was really the times like these when Natsu really made him remember that yes, he was actually a demon.

"I'm going to cook you alive," Laxus growled, still struggling to get out of the ice. Gray took another step away from him, seeing the lightning flashing around without abandon.

Natsu walked towards the ice-encased Laxus, apparently not worried about the threat of getting electrocuted by a furiously raging lightning wielding wizard. If anything, he looked like he was about two seconds away from pointing and laughing. Still with that odd half-smirk in place, he turned and looked and Gray over his shoulder.

"Can you handle this clown on your own?" he asked, jerking a thumb in Lyon's direction. If Lyon was offended, he didn't show it.

"Of course," Gray nodded, adding a scoff for emphasis on just how much he could handle Lyon. Sure, they might have had their fights when they were younger and being trained by Ur, and maybe Lyon may have won more of them than Gray, but Gray had been in the same guild as _Natsu_ for years. He counted that as training. Of sorts.

Natsu grinned demonically, and cracked his knuckles, turning back to Laxus with a frightening look in his eyes. Gray had never been so thankful to not be on the receiving end of whatever Natsu had planned. "Right then!" he said, "Let's leave these two lovebirds to catch up!" Both Gray and Lyon spluttered, but before either of them could correct him, Natsu shouted, "Come on, snowball!" and kicked the ice ball that still contained Laxus down the side of the temple, and, in turn, down the side of the hill the temple was on. Natsu went near enough flying after him.

Gray could only watch in mild bemusement.

"It seems that you have made some very strange friends since our master died," Lyon noted, a very noticeable touch of dryness to his voice.

"Like you were the shining example of normalcy," Gray couldn't help but fire back, remembering all the times that Lyon had stripped in public. Granted, he had done that as well, but it wasn't the point.

"Still, kicking the one encased in ice off of here was an ingenious move," Lyon mused, looking into the distance over Gray's shoulder for a moment. "My spell didn't work on the pink-haired one, and he isn't as empty-headed as he looks. How interesting."

"I'll show you interesting," Gray snapped, moving into his standard battle stance. The one that Ur had taught him.

Lyon chuckled lightly, and a hand came up to the mask. The mask was lifted away from his face, leaving only a face that Gray both recognised immediately and had only feelings of vague familiarity about. Somehow, Lyon had simultaneously not changed at all, whilst having changed in every single way. His face had remained the same, his hair the same, and yet his cheekbones were slightly more angular, his eyes colder. His smile crueller than Gray remembered.

"Do show me, then," Lyon taunted softly, mirroring Gray's stance with a mocking smirk. The two of them stared at each other, neither willing to make the first move, waiting to see who would break.

In the end, it was Gray who cracked first. He moved quickly, shouting, " ** _Ice make: geyser!_** "

An explosion of ice erupted where Lyon had been standing, had he not jumped a few feet to the side just in time. The jagged shards of ice nipped at his clothes and cape, ripping through the material as easily as Laxus's lightning ripped through clouds in a storm. Within a few seconds, Lyon was retaliating with, " ** _Ice make: tiger!_** "

" ** _Ice make: battle-axe!_** "

As the giant battle-axe swung down and smashed the artificially created creature into bits, Gray could only watch as Lyon conjured up more creatures – small, needle-sharp birds – using the one-handed technique that their master had hated so much. Lyon noticed where he was looking and he grinned widely.

"See, Gray?" he said, holding out a hand as he conjured up another flock of birds to attack Gray. "I've already surpassed Ur!"

"What is this about, Lyon?!" Gray demanded, creating axes and shields to ward off the dynamic ice creations. One or two of the smaller birds got through the shield, though, and they shredded through his skin like a razor.

"I will finally have my dream come true!" Lyon declared, as though that was the only thing in the world that mattered.

"You're insane!" Gray shouted, sending another hammer towards his old friend and watching as he was sent flying towards an old wall. " _You're attempting to bring back the demon that killed Ur_!"

" ** _No!_** " There was suddenly a crazed look to Lyon's face, one that Gray really didn't like the looks of. "I'm bringing back the _demon she_ _ **nearly**_ _killed_." He pointed a shaking finger in Gray's direction, the other hand poised to use ice magic. Gray just knew he wouldn't like whatever was going to come out of Lyon's mouth. "But don't you ever forget, Gray: **_you're_** _the one that killed Ur_!"

The memories hit him like he'd been pulled into one of Erza's bone crushing hugs. The sounds of the people running around him, screaming to get away from that monster. The choking smell of smoke and blood and the smell that he'd come to realise was associated with demonic beings – Natsu had one, but Natsu's was almost comforting, like home. Deliora's was as though destruction itself had a smell.

Gray remembered his last moments with Ur, and he hesitated.

The hesitation was all Lyon needed, and the newly conjured ice dragon sent Gray flying from the roof of the temple and through the sky, thoughts still far from Galuna Island.

* * *

"I'm going to kill you," Laxus growled darkly as Natsu pushed his block of ice into an upright position, lightning crackling threateningly. Natsu glanced at it, then glanced at Laxus with a bored look.

"Every time I try to do something nice for you, you threaten to hurt me," he replied flatly. If anything, that seemed to enrage Laxus even more.

"YOU PUSHED ME DOWN A HILL!"

"I was saving your life!" Natsu protested sharply, accidentally setting himself and the ground around him on fire. Despite himself, Laxus snorted. "If that guy can turn you into a Laxicle, then he could also shatter you. And I like you now, so I don't want that to happen," Natsu added, cackling at the insulted look Laxus sent him.

"You didn't send Gray away," Laxus said, still looking insulted. Natsu just rolled his eyes and set his fists on fire, holding them next to the block of ice. Within seconds, the ice started to melt into a puddle at their feet. Take that, ice. There was nothing that could withstand the heat of hell fire. Well, nothing that Natsu knew, anyway. Aside from iced-shell ice, but that didn't count.

"If Gray can't handle getting out of ice, then he doesn't deserve to be an ice wizard," Natsu pointed out. He laughed at the thought before dodging a lightning covered fist that came flying straight towards his face, and caught the second one. Before he could return the favour, though, they were both distracted by the sight of someone flying across the sky, their silhouette covering the moon for a second. It might have been almost serene, had Natsu not been almost certain that the unknown figure was naked. The two of them watched the person's progress until they could no longer see them.

"Well," Natsu said, after the silence reigned on for a couple of minutes, cracking his knuckles. "That was different."

Laxus looked like he had different thoughts on his mind, staring at the sky with a pondering expression. "Was that Gray?"

"It was something."


	12. Chapter 12

Erza stared at the approaching island, a spot of blue on the horizon, the wind blowing through her hair and cooling her face with sea salt. The slight rocking of the ship made for a soothing motion as she contemplated what she would do once she set foot on land. After all, after hearing that Gray and Lucy had so foolishly set off on an S-Class quest – and the one for the Cursed Island of Galuna, no less! – she had immediately set out to bring them back to the guild. The only reason Elfman had been spared her wrath was because he hadn't gone through with the foolish scheme.

That, and Mira's stern face.

Erza's expression darkened.

She would drag Lucy and Gray back bound and gagged if she had to. Nobody in Fairy Tail broke the rules and got away with it, even relatively new members.

"Why'd you wanna go to Galuna Island?" the captain asked, looking over his shoulder at her with a fearful expression. "It's _scary_!"

"Just shut up and steer," Erza snapped back in reply, watching the captain immediately snap back to the ship's wheel. Fear was visibly rolling off of him in waves.

"If you drop us off somewhere, you can have the boat!" the captain tried to bargain, not quite looking her in the eyes. "Please, I'm beggin' ya, lady! I've heard that island is cursed and anyone who steps foot on its soil gets turned into a demon!"

Erza stared ahead, past the captain's shoulder impassively. "I will take that chance."

"But! Why d'ya have to go there?!"

"When rules are broken, the guilty must be punished," Erza replied hotly, finally looking at all of the pirates on the ship. "And that is all I can tell you."

To her surprise – although she kept it carefully under the impassive mask – the rest of the crew immediately jumped up, stars in their eyes.

"That's so cool!"

"We don't like rule-breakers either!"

"We'll help you catch 'em if you want!"

"Sure," Erza replied dismissively. "Now let's hurry."

"Listen up you scallywags!" the captain shouted, one fist raised in the air. "Raise those sails and set course for the Cursed Island of Galuna!"

The ship began to speed up on its course to the island, and Erza relaxed slightly. Listening to the loud, off-tune sea shanties being sung around her, she kept her eyes on the silhouette of Galuna, her mind on her target.

* * *

Gray came back to consciousness slowly and painfully, his mind somehow lingering on the soft feeling of the ground beneath him. For some reason, it reminded him of the snow back on the northern continent, where he spent his childhood – where he trained with Ur. For a moment, he convinced himself that he was back there, lying face down in the soft white snow after a long day of training.

"What's the matter? Don't tell me you're giving up that easily," came Ur's voice, and Gray just wanted to burrow his head into the cold even more. What else was he supposed to do, when he had lost so astoundingly?

"Get up, Gray," Ur said, sounding more demanding. "Get up, Gray!" Her voice started to change, and suddenly it was Natsu telling him to get up.

"I say we leave him there," came Laxus's voice, gruff and generally uncaring. Gray would have snorted if he had the energy to move.

"You're just in a mood because of the Laxicle comment," Natsu replied back airily, apparently not caring about the consequences of a pissed off Laxus. There was a nudge at Gray's leg. "Come on, Gray. Get up." A pause, then. "Man, you're in a bad shape. He beat the ever-loving snot out of you, huh?"

"What gave it away? The concussion or the half-naked flying across the moon?" Laxus asked dryly, and Gray made his tired face muscles scowl into the dirt. He didn't care if Laxus couldn't see the scowl, it was the principle of the matter.

"What're you two doing here?" he asked into the dirt, not bothering to move off the ground. Like he could actually move, anyway. Ha, fat chance of that happening any time soon.

"You flew into our path, ice boy," Laxus growled, and Gray heard the snapping off a knuckle. "We were heading back to the village to help stop your crazy friends."

"You also stripped your pants on your way down from the moon," Natsu pointed out, helpfully. "It was very graceful. Like a swan."

"Go to Hell," Gray ground out, wishing he could see that damned talkative pink-haired demon he tentatively called a friend these days. He heard Natsu snort.

"Already been there, pal," he laughed, nudging Gray in the side with his foot again. He heard a thumping sound, and Gray guessed that he'd hit Laxus's shoulder. "Really, it's not that great. Too many antique doors. And too many weird demons to avoid." Natsu's voice went weird at the end, like he was trying not to shudder at the thought of something. "Anyway, let's go."

Suddenly, Gray felt himself being hauled up by the scruff of his shirt, and the ground pressing in front of his face was gone. He looked around and saw Laxus staring at him with an unimpressed look. Well, as unimpressed as he usually looked.

"Wait, I can walk," Gray said, stopping Natsu from hauling him to his feet altogether. He wasn't about to have Natsu of all people show him up, not after his stunning defeat by Lyon's hands.

"Tch," Laxus snorted. Ignoring him, Gray stumbled to his feet and attempted to brush some of the dirt off of his shirt.

"Where's Lyon?" he asked. Well, he was getting nowhere with the dirt, so time to give up with that. Natsu frowned.

"Don't know," Natsu replied, shrugging. Gray heard a clicking sound at the movement and he winced. "We haven't been up to the temple since you started your reunion fight."

"Don't forget that you ran into us!" Laxus threw in, very unhelpfully, and Gray scowled at him. He wobbled, and felt the world tipping; he probably would have fallen, in fact, had Natsu not caught him by the shirt again. The next thing that Gray knew, he was being slung across someone's back like a small, insolent child. "Come on, we need to get back before your crazy friend's minions do."

The swaying sensation that started told Gray that they'd started walking in a direction, and he stared at the slowly moving forest ground. Laxus and Natsu were sniping at each other, but he paid them no mind. Instead, he allowed the memories that had been slowly surfacing to wash over him.

* * *

It had been easy to get back to the village after Natsu had sent her and Happy away from the temple. Exhaustedly, Lucy stood in the centre of the gathered – and fully transformed – village people, hands on hips.

"Listen up," she started, getting everyone's attention to her. Once she had it, she continued, "The people who caused the curse that transformed you are planning an attack on the village!" The moment she said that, Lucy could see all of the villagers look at each other with either shock, fear or even anger at the situation.

"They're gonna come down here to fight us?" a man near her asked, disbelief in his voice.

"Yeah," Lucy replied, looking at the ground for a second. Where was the manual for 'How to tell villagers that their home might be destroyed by crazed demon fanatics'? It would really come in useful right about now. "But I've got a plan. We'll capture them and lock them up until they tell us how to change you back!"

Around her, the villagers were talking with each other, and Lucy could hear snatches of, "I don't know", "Do you think it'll work", "Doesn't hurt to try", and "I'm scared". Lucy tried not to feel offended at the lack of support.

"The only thing is, I'm pretty sure those three are wizards," Happy pointed out, and crap, Lucy hadn't thought of that. Damn that cat for reminding her of that little fact. "They're gonna be hard to catch."

"You're right," Lucy admitted – those words hurt going to Happy. In any other circumstance, she was sure he would hold them over her. "And you're the only one we've got right now." She smiled at him reassuringly. "Well, good look."

Happy's eyes bugged out three times their usual size. " ** _WHAT!_** Last time I checked, you're a wizard, too!"

Lucy's mind froze for a second, then suddenly caught up because _oh yeah, she_ _ **was**_ _a wizard_. How could she forget that? Aquarius had reminded her that she was supposed to be one enough times since she was young enough to start summoning her Spirits, so why had she forgotten now? Then, like a thunderbolt, an idea hit her out of nowhere, and she clapped for emphasis.

"I've got it!" she grinned, pretty sure that there were literal stars in her eyes at that moment in time. "I just had a brilliant idea!"

Happy gave her a look. "Nothing good can come of this," he said dubiously, and Lucy sent him an annoyed look.

"Shut it, cat!" she snapped, then returned her attention to the villagers just as the chief walked out into the midst.

"What are all of you doing out here?" he asked in dual confusion and annoyance. Lucy immediately launched into an explanation.

"We don't have much time, sir!" she hurriedly said, somehow managing not to trip over her words. It seemed the lessons that she'd been forced to have when she was younger were paying off, for once. "The enemy is gonna attack any second now!"

"Enemy?"

"The ones responsible for the curse that's transformed your people!" Lucy continued. "They've been hiding in the old temple in the jungle!"

" ** _I DON'T CARE WHO'S IN THE TEMPLE! WHY HAVEN'T YOU DESTROYED THE MOON!?_** " the chief burst out, and Lucy jumped back out of shock, hands going up automatically.

"It wasn't exactly the moon that did this to you," she tried to explain, gesticulating wildly in her attempt to get him to understand. "But now we know who did!"

" ** _YOU LIE! DO WHAT I ASK OF YOU!_** " the chief yelled, spit flying everywhere. Lucy took an instinctual step backwards when it looked like he was going to fly forwards, but he was being restrained by two of the villagers.

"Chief, please, you have to calm down," one said, struggling a bit with the chief he was holding back. It seemed the chief had more strength than he let on.

"Come on, let's go," the other one said, and together, the two of them managed to haul the chief off back to his tent.

" ** _GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME! DON'T LISTEN TO HER! SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT SHE'S TALKING ABOUT!_** " he yelled as he was dragged away, and Lucy winced at the unintentional scene she'd caused.

"He doesn't need any of that," said the villager man next to her, staring at the chief's tent with her. "He's just upset. He's been that way ever since Bobo died."

"Poor man," Lucy said sympathetically, looking up at the stars and thinking of her own mother. She could relate to what the chief was feeling, in a sense. She might not have lost a child, but she had lost her mother when she was _just_ a child. Inwardly shaking herself, she turned back to the man. "I know how to trap the enemy, though."

"We'd be happy to help if you need us."

At that, Lucy smiled. "I'm the greatest Celestial wizard that Fairy Tail's got. Why don't you just leave it to me?" she said, breathing out to try and make her confidence real.

"You're the _only_ Celestial wizard Fairy Tail has," Happy said snidely, swooping in out of nowhere like a cat determined to torment her. Lucy glared at him but said nothing, choosing to focus on the task at hand. Time to put her amazing plan into action. She pulled Virgo's key out of the bunch of keys and held it in front of her.

" ** _Open! Gate of the Maiden: Virgo!_** " Lucy shouted, and the familiar golden light filled the area. A moment later, Virgo appeared, ever serene expression firmly in place.

"Hello, princess," Virgo greeted, nodding. She jingled the shackles around her wrists slightly. "Is it punishment time?"

"NO!" Lucy shouted loudly, making a few of the villagers around her wince at the volume. She could hear Happy snickering, and she ignored it again in favour of talking to Virgo. "Listen, there's something I need you do help me with."

"Of course, princess," Virgo nodded, bowing slightly, and Lucy quickly ushered her over to the side and told her the plan to capture the enemy wizards. Acutely aware of the eyes on them and of the fact that they were running out of time, she and Virgo started the preparations on her plan to capture the wizards.

* * *

" _This_ was your plan?!" Happy burst out, staring at the ground in front of him with wide eyes of disbelief.

"Great work, Virgo!" Lucy praised, grinning happily at the work they'd accomplished in such a short time. Admittedly, it was Virgo who had done the actual digging, but she was being supplied by Lucy's magic power, so she figured they were even. "My plan is gonna work perfectly!"

"I'm not so sure," Virgo said bluntly, and Lucy blinked, then saw red.

"What did you just say?!" she nearly yelled, annoyed that Virgo, of all people, would criticise her plan. She had come to expect that from Happy – he seemed to live for that these days. But then, he and Natsu either criticised everyone for one reason or another or were out of the guild, so it was one extreme or the other with those two.

"Hey, Lucy?" Happy asked, still looking disbelieving, and Lucy looked down at him.

"Yeah, what is it?" she replied.

"I really hate to break it to you," he began, paw raised in the air, "but I think you might be…" he trailed off, as though searching for a word, and Lucy stared at him. "… stupid," he eventually decided on.

"Wow," Lucy glared at him, trying to set him on fire with just her eyes. "Thanks a lot for the encouragement."

"I just don't think anybody's gonna fall for your trap because it's the oldest trick in the book!" Happy pointed out dejectedly, and Lucy could almost see a dark aura coming off him.

"Now, don't be silly," Lucy said confidently, and they both turned and looked at Lucy's trap. Which was just a very deep hole, courtesy of Virgo's superior digging skills, and some leaves thrown over the top to hide the fact that there was a hole there. All in all, a very good trap if Lucy did say so herself. "A pitfall trap will get 'em every time!"

"But you can tell what it is by looking at it!"

"It doesn't matter because there's only one way to get in the village," Lucy reminded him, pointing at the huge gate that sealed off the village from the rest of the island. "So the enemy's gonna have to go over it if they want in."

"Well, I still don't think there's any way they're gonna fall for it," Happy reiterated and, to Lucy's horror, all of the villagers started agreeing with him. **And Virgo!**

"Go ahead and doubt me! You'll see," she said, turning away to the gate. At that moment, the villager keeping watch suddenly shouted down that he'd spotted someone heading towards the village. "That's gotta be them! Open the gate!"

As the gate opened, she stood ready and waiting for them to fall into her perfectly ingenious trap. When it reached the top, though, it wasn't enemy wizards she saw, though. Instead, she saw Laxus, Natsu and Gray (slung across Natsu's shoulders) running towards the village.

"Hey, guys!" Natsu greeted when he saw them, raising a hand and somehow managing to keep running with Gray's added extra weight. "Are you okay?"

Lucy screamed.

"Stay right there! Don't come any closer!" she yelled desperately, trying to get the three of them to stop running towards her trap. Okay, maybe this particular trap may have been a bad idea after all.

"Natsu! Laxus! _Stop!_ "

The two skidded to a stop right in front of the hole, and Lucy breathed out in relief, her heart pounding. However, the relief didn't last long. Since he was carrying extra weight, Natsu had accidentally knocked into Laxus, who in turn had knocked back into Natsu when they had come to a halt. The halt had been unsteady at best, and when they were balancing right on the edge of a hole. Well.

Lucy screamed when they fell in anyway.

" _I'm so dead_ ," she said in a small voice, already seeing the lightning sparks dancing around the hole and already imagining her own funeral.


	13. Chapter 13

The first thing that Natsu registered as he landed at the bottom of the hole was puzzlement from the situation from he'd suddenly found himself in – after all, it wasn't often he ended up in pitfalls. The second thing he registered was a dull ache in his back from where he had landed on a tiny pile of stones on an otherwise smooth floor. The third thing was irritation and annoyance at the whole thing.

Judging by the lightning bolts starting to dance around Laxus, who was sprawled across the other side of the pit, whoever was responsible for this was about to get an earful.

"Very funny!" Natsu yelled up, aiming it at both Lucy and Happy and trying to keep the growl of annoyance out of his voice. "In case you haven't noticed though, _we don't have time to play practical jokes on each other!_ "

Happy appeared at the edge of the hole, looking anxious. "Don't talk to me, it was Lucy's dumb idea," he protested, pointing in her direction for emphasis. He heard her splutter indignantly and call him a traitor. The lightning around Laxus flared up.

"I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!" he yelled, looking furious with both her and the entire situation. Natsu would have laughed at him had he not been stuck down there with him. Demon or not, he was still susceptible to accidental frying by angry idiots.

"It wasn't a joke! It was a trap!" Lucy yelled back down the hole, although standing well to the side and away from Laxus's lightning bolts. Natsu nearly snorted, despite his irritation. Smart thinking.

"I'm glad you're okay!" Happy shouted down, looking relieved to see them all alive and mostly unharmed. "I was worried about you!"

"We're fine," Natsu replied, gesturing casually to him and the slowly simmering Laxus, "but Gray's down for the count!"

"The guy in the mask beat him up that badly?" Lucy asked with wide eyes, looking down at where Gray was sprawled. Laxus snorted.

Deciding that they couldn't really talk like this anymore, Natsu quickly cast his teleportation spell, the familiar dark magic circles appearing below them and, before Laxus could complain, whisked them to the top of the whole. When the flames had cleared around them, he saw that the villagers seemed to have jumped backwards in shock, which, okay, fair enough. It wasn't every day that a giant flame suddenly appeared out of nowhere, so he'd give them that.

He stood up and dusted himself off, and a couple of the villagers ran over and started tending to Gray. Natsu frowned at him, then turned to Lucy. "So how come masked freak's minions haven't made it here yet?"

A look of realisation crossed Lucy's face, and a hand went to her chin as she stared at the gate. "You know, that's a good question," she replied softly.

"If I were an enemy wizard, I wouldn't necessarily use the front door," Laxus threw in helpfully, going and standing off to the side, arms crossed and looking as stormy as he could possibly get.

"They left for the village before you, but you got here first," Natsu thought aloud, frowning. That just didn't make any sense. Lucy and Happy might have been going by air, which gave them an advantage to going over land, but the minions still had a sizeable headstart to them before they'd actually left the temple. So why hadn't they arrived yet…

"Okay guys! Hurry up and cover up that hole!" Lucy yelled, stars in her eyes. Natsu stared at her, unimpressed.

"They're not gonna fall for that," he said flatly. He was about to say more, but was interrupted by one of the nearby villagers pointing towards the sky – no, some _thing_ in the sky. Natsu looked towards it, and he felt everything inside him die just a little bit, if that was even possible.

Flying across the night sky was the rat thing that he and Laxus had brawled with outside the temple when they'd first arrived on Galuna. Its tail had been turned into a flying device, and it seemed to be carrying a bucket. Natsu had a feeling that whatever was in the bucket spelled trouble for all of them down on the ground, and he readied himself. His eyes sharpened as the bucket seemed to tilt slightly, and a drop of something neon green fell from it. As it got closer to the ground, he sniffed the air and stiffened.

Double-poison jelly.

So that's what they were planning to do.

That green drop was still heading to the ground, though – specifically, towards –

"Jelly?" Lucy asked, confused as the drop was nearly upon her. Natsu growled and sped towards her, knocking her down and away from the drop.

"GET DOWN!" he yelled. A second later, he felt the drop hit the ground behind them and disintegrate the ground. He got up and turned to the villagers as they began to panic. "You need to leave now! They're gonna be using more of that stuff!" No one was listening, though. It seemed that even just one drop of the double-poison jelly had been enough to terrify them into mass confusion, and Natsu growled again and stared up at the flying rat.

The rat that had just released the entire bucket-load of double-poison jelly, and Natsu stared in horror as it slowly fell towards the town. If one drop had caused space the size of his foot to dissolve, then he didn't want to think about about what the entire contents of a bucket as big as that would do.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled in shock and desperation, shaking his arm, "Don't you have a spell for making that disappear?!"

"Do I look like a miracle worker?!" Natsu snapped back, mind still racing like the magic rail train.

"I mean, the door's right there," Laxus suggested, pointing at the open gate to the village. No one paid him any attention, and he sighed heavily, going back to crossing his arms and brooding.

"HOW'RE WE GONNA PROTECT OURSELVES FROM THAT?" Lucy yelled, beginning to descend into panic mode with the villagers, hands going to her face and staring up at it. Natsu bounded forwards, flames igniting in his hands.

"Everybody, get in the centre of the village!" he yelled as he ran. "Happy, you ready to fly?"

Happy appeared next to him, wings already out. "Aye, sir!"

He felt Happy's paws take hold of his shirt, and within a second he was airborne and heading towards the eye of the storm – in that particular case, jelly. As they got closer to the stuff, the more repugnant the smell became, and Natsu's eyes started to water, but he steeled his expression.

" ** _Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!_** " he yelled, bringing the flames on his hands together to merge together into one massive flame. It wasn't his most powerful attack, not by a long shot, but it would get the job done. The ball of flame went flying off towards the direction of the centre of the jelly, and within a second, it had dispersed it, causing droplets to fall outside of the centre of the village, where the villagers weren't. From where he was, he could see the rat more clearly, and the minions on its back.

He smirked up at them in victory.

* * *

"Is anybody hurt?" he asked upon landing with Happy, the smoke still clearing around them from where the double poison jelly had hit. The village was completely gone, and Natsu felt twinges of guilt for that, but if had saved the villagers, then he considered it a success. Homes could be rebuilt. Lives weren't so easily replaced.

"No, we're all okay," Laxus replied. It seemed these days his default stance was standing with his arms crossed, but he looked a bit annoyed that his leaning post had been dissolved.

"The village has been completely destroyed, though," one of the villagers said mournfully, looking around at the remains of their home with a saddened expression. Natsu's eye caught a glimpse of a grave on the edge of the small, makeshift island he'd accidentally created, and it seemed the chief had, too.

"Bobo's grave is still standing!" he said, sounding close to tears from seeing it. Almost immediately, Natsu heard three new footsteps and caught three new scents – the minions. _Damnit, the smell of the double-poison jelly must have been blocking their scents for me_ , he thought in irritation, and he scowled. The sound of something like rock being kicked over filled Natsu's ears, and he turned towards the source.

The minions were standing behind Bobo's grave, and the gravestone was lying in pieces on the ground. It didn't take a genius to tell what had happened, and Natsu immediately saw red. They decided to desecrate a gravestone of a loved one, in a village they had just destroyed, _just because it was in their way_?

"The Cold Emperor ordered us to eradicate the village _and_ its people," the pink haired girl said casually as the three walked up to them, her hands on her hips like she didn't have a care in the world. "We were trying to show mercy by making your deaths quick and painless." She glanced at her comrades. "But since that didn't work, we'll have to resort to bloodshed."

_Like Hell you will._

"Fifty villagers, three wizards… shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes," Eyebrows said coolly, surveying them all with a speculative eye. Natsu's blood boiled hotter, and he looked at Lucy and Laxus.

"You ready?" he asked, fists clenched and ready to attack.

Laxus cracked his knuckles threateningly. "I've been wanting to take them out for that ice trick," he said threateningly, stepping forward, overcoat dancing with lightning sparks. Natsu didn't envy whoever was unfortunate enough to go up against Laxus when he was in this mood.

"Let me help you." The three of them turned to find Gray getting unsteadily to his feet, breathing heavily and looking pained.

"And have you faint on us in the middle of a fight?" Laxus asked with a derisive snort, turning away to face the enemy. "I'll pass, snowflake."

"Not gonna happen," Natsu agreed, taking in Gray's injured state. Gray was stubborn, like Natsu himself was. Even if he was injured to the point of pain and unable to move, he would still attempt to fight alongside his comrades, like Natsu would. Natsu walked towards him, silently hoping that Gray would see his side of this later on.

"Natsu… don't do this to me," he gasped out, sensing what was about to be done. Natsu paid him no attention and punched him squarely in the gut, trying to hold back as much as possible for Gray's own sake – the full strength of an Etherious could easily kill, and he was only trying to knock out his friend, not kill, after all.

"Just lie down, and get some rest," he said, regret in his voice. Gray grabbed a hold of his scarf on the way down.

"Someday… I'll… kill…" he managed to gasp out, before going back into unconsciousness. Natsu caught him, not paying too much attention to Gray's threat. Gray had threatened to kill him hundreds of times over the years, and this time wouldn't be the last. Over to the side, he could hear Happy explaining his decision to knock Gray out to Lucy, narrowing it down to 'tough love'. One of the villagers moved over to them and Natsu carefully transferred Gray over to them, helping to get him onto their back, and he nodded in thanks before making his way back over to Lucy, Happy and Laxus.

"Can you look after him for us?" Lucy asked nervously, glancing between them and the enemy wizards.

"No problem, Miss Lucy," the villager replied. He turned to the rest of the villagers. "Alright, let's go." They all began to make their way out of the former village, and Natsu breathed a sigh of relief. At least with the villagers out of the way, he wouldn't have to hold back as much.

"We're not leaving," the pink haired girl smiled at them, pleasant as ever, "until every person in this village is dead." She turned to her giant rat behind her, and Natsu and Laxus gave each other a glance. "Angelica."

The rat – named Angelica, apparently – squeaked, started spinning its tail, and jumped into the air, sending shockwaves through the ground. It then sped forwards at an unbelievably fast speed towards them, and Natsu grunted as he ducked out of the way. When he looked back towards where Laxus, Happy and Lucy had been standing…

" ** _WE'RE NOT GONNA LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIIIIIS!_** "

Laxus looked up at the quickly disappearing Angelica, then back at Natsu with the most unimpressed expression to date. "Did Blondie just get whisked away by the giant flying rat?" he asked, face unchanging.

Natsu stared after Lucy's screaming voice, hand over his eyes. "Yeah, I think she did."

"Yep, she's stupid," Happy chimed in, a look of utmost suffering on his face. Natsu felt for him and sighed heavily.

"More like insane," he agreed, looking up at where Angelica was circling back around and – yep, there was Lucy, clinging on to one of the rat's legs. She had to be insane to have thought that jumping onto the rat was a good idea. And Natsu was stuck with her (and Erza sometimes) for a teammate now. The thought made him cringe a bit, and he wondered why she hadn't shown any of this insanity before. Then again, there had been the stupid pitfall he and Laxus had fallen into when they'd gotten back to the village.

Definitely insane. Was she _tickling_ the rat? And the rat was giggling away… And there they went. Natsu just stared at where they'd crashed, pretty sure his look of disbelief mirrored his opponents.

"Oh, great," Eyebrows said, sounding as though he'd half been expecting something like that to happen. " _He's_ gonna be ticked."

"I DON'T HAVE ANY TICKS!" the one with dog ears yelled back immediately, and Eyebrows just sighed in long suffering. Natsu couldn't blame him.

"I wasn't talking about you," he replied shortly, eyes closed and looking like he wanted to punch something. Mainly Dogman.

Natsu stared at the crash site again. "D'you think she made it?" he asked worriedly, frowning as he thought of the height of the drop. Even if the rat hadn't crushed her, there was still a ways to fall, and that could easily leave someone really hurt. "That big rat mighta crushed her."

"If so, she's probably a goner." Happy activated his Aeromagic, and flew upwards. "I'll go and check on her."

Natsu looked over his shoulder at him. "Thanks. Be careful, bud."

With that, Laxus immediately launched a lightning bolt towards the one with dog ears, apparently not sparing any expense if the look on his face was anything to go by (and again, Natsu didn't envy that guy). Natsu leapt forward, springing towards Eyebrows and roaring out a great plume of fire. Not as hot as his usual hell fire – he wasn't trying to obliterate the enemies, and he was pretty sure they wouldn't be able to stand his full power attacks.

"A wizard who can breathe fire?" Eyebrows asked, as though surveying a particularly interesting species. Over to the side, Laxus was still blasting the poor other guy with lightning bolt after lightning bolt. "I see. Don't tell me you're the Salamander from Fairy Tail I've heard so much about." It seemed as though this wizard's magic was to nullify other magic, Natsu observed.

"You know, we used to members of a famous guild ourselves," Eyebrows continued casually, "so you shouldn't blow us off."

At that, Dogman collapsed on the ground, looking thoroughly fried and not about to get up again any time soon. Laxus wandered over, overcoat looming over him like an ever-present shadow, and stared Eyebrows down from his massive height advantage.

"In fact, Iron Rock Jura used to belong to the same guild," Eyebrows said, smiling a bit, and was that a bit of _bragging_ he heard? So what if he had a Wizard Saint in his former guild? Natsu and Laxus had Makarov Dreyar, also a Wizard Saint, in _their_ guild. In response, Natsu just blasted out fire from both hands, bored with listening to the monologue, and Eyebrows impatiently shielded himself from the fire. "Hey! Cut it out! Listen when I'm talking to you!"

"I wouldn't bother trying," Laxus said, still staring down at him with that dark look on his face, lightning sparks dancing off him.

"You think I care what guilds you're from?" Natsu asked, "or who the other members are?" He narrowed his eyes and shifted his stance, ready to leap forward again if he needed to. "I'm here to help the villagers and you're the ones who put them in danger!" He clenched his fists. "Which makes you Fairy Tail's enemy, and that gives me more than enough reason to fight you."

Eyebrows narrowed his eyes, making his eyebrows even more monstrous than Deliora for a moment.

Natsu leapt forward, roaring out another great plume of fire. At the same time, Eyebrows lifted a hand. It seemed that whatever had been diffusing his magic attacks against him also had a physical mass, because Natsu felt something slam into him and send him flying backwards. The first thing he felt was surprise, because that was the first time something had caught him off guard enough to be able to do that in a while, since he was small and had first joined Fairy Tail after Igneel had disappeared. The second thing he felt was a dull ache in his stomach where the, for the lack of a better word, 'wave' had hit him. It felt similar to having been hit with a blunted object, but thanks to his tough, for lack of a better word, dragon exterior, most of it was absorbed into the scales that all dragon slayers had lying dormant under the skin.

He looked up in time to see Laxus launch a lightning bolt from above Eyebrows, only to have the bolt diffused like Natsu's fire attacks.

"The pulsing energy that's coming from my hand diffuses all types of magic!" Eyebrows explained, and it was like a lightbulb had been switched on with that. Natsu blinked, feeling like he had two choices: either a physical fight, where Eyebrows had a good chance of having something broken because, honestly, Natsu wasn't sure how much he could hold back his demonic strength. Or he could use his Curses, since he was sure that they would get past the wave. "Which means: none of your spells will work against me!"

"So that's why we can't touch him," Laxus growled, looking furious with Eyebrows.

Natsu ignored Eyebrow's monologue and jumped forward again, his fist landing against the barrier with a resounding thud. As he thought, the flames around his fist went out immediately, but he was where he wanted to be, and that's what counted.

"I told you, your magic is useless against my wave," Eyebrows said coolly, staring at him through the transparent barrier.

Natsu gave him a slightly savage smirk, and okay, maybe some of his more demonic personality was leaking through. Which was fine. "Then, I'll have to crush you without it!" And without stopping to think of the consequences of his actions, he pulled his arm back and punched it through the barrier. Eyebrow's eyes went wide, and Natsu smirked wider. "Hey, look! I broke through it!" A sharp, searing pain suddenly went through his arm and hand, and he let out an unintended yell.

"You put your bare arm inside a vortex of pure magic energy. Not a smart move," Eyebrows said, looking unimpressed.

Natsu stared at him for a second, weighed up the pros and cons of his next potential decision and how reckless it was, and then stuck his entire upper body into the vortex.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" Laxus yelled from the side, sounding concerned for Natsu's sanity. Which, really, was just fine.

"You might have broken through my wave, but now you're stuck, Salamander," Eyebrows said, looking and sounding more panicked than before. It wasn't outward, but Natsu could hear it in his breathing. "Your flames aren't gonna work now that you're inside."

Natsu grinned, slightly demonically if Eyebrow's expression was anything to by. "But I can still use them outside! And you just gave me a _great_ idea! **_FIRE DRAGON'S_** – " He felt his elbows alight, and he grinned even wider, paying no attention to Eyebrow's sudden panicking as he realised what Natsu was planning to do. "— ** _FLAMING ELBOW!_** " His fist flew forward with the extra boost from his dragon slaying magic, and it landed squarely in Eyebrow's face, sending him flying off to the other side of the crater.

Laxus walked up next to him out of nowhere and smashed him on the head, looking unimpressed. "Tch," he snorted, looking at their fallen enemies.

"What was that for?!" Natsu demanded, rubbing at the sore spot – and just after he'd put himself into a magic vortex, as well!

Laxus just gave him a _look_ that Natsu knew all too well. "Idiot," he said flatly, turning to the fallen gravestone and carefully replacing it back to how it should be. He stared down at the now-righted grave, an odd look on his face. "You deserve revenge, Boba."

Natsu wandered over and stood next to him, nodding in solemn agreement. "And we'll make sure it happens."


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, I am terrible at remembering to update this copy of the fic. Welp. To make up for this, I'm just gonna throw the rest of the chapters at this over the next few days. So. Yeah. Sorry about that!!!!

Lucy slowly awoke with a pounding headache on a very solid surface. For a long moment, she wasn't sure what was going on. Wasn't she supposed to be back in her warm, comfy bed in her apartment in Magnolia? Any moment now, she wagered, she'd wake up to find that Natsu, the jerk, had snuck in during the night again, and she'd have to get up to kick him out again.

Suddenly, it all came flooding back to her. The temple on Galuna Island, the demon in the ice. The acidic jelly that had been about to kill all of the villagers. The enemy wizards… With a groan, she opened her eyes, her hand going to her head and massaging the sore spot. She must have hit it when she and that crazy girl crash landed. Speaking of…

"Where's that weird girl?" she asked, speaking more to herself than anyone else. She could see the thoroughly downed rat off to the side, not about to get up any time soon. She sat up, wincing at the pain in her side from the movement. She definitely wouldn't be doing anything like that again any time soon.

"That was some stunt you just pulled," came a tearful voice, and Lucy snapped her head in its direction, " _young lady!_ " The weird, pink haired girl who had been riding the flying rat was standing a distance away from Lucy atop a ledge on a small cliff face, tears rolling freely down her face like her entire world had just ended. "Because of you, the Cold Emperor will no longer be able to trust me!" The tears intensified, if that was even possible. "He'll never love me!" The girl's face turned murderous as she stared down at Lucy, face twisting grotesquely. " _I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!_ "

Lucy readied herself, hands going to her keys. "That's fine with me!" she shouted back up, glaring. "Bring it on!"

The girl screamed, and pink magic circles appeared in front of her hands. Within a second, Lucy heard a creaking sound coming from behind her, along with a strange groaning sound. Turning, she turned to see the source of the noise, and she let out a gasp of surprise.

"The tree… is moving?" she asked, not quite understanding what she was seeing for a moment. It was only when the pink haired girl screamed and the tree started to try and attack her that she leapt into action, jumping backwards and grabbing a hold of one of her keys. " ** _Open! Gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!_** " she yelled, and out of the familiar, warm yellow glow, Taurus appeared, giant axe in hand and ready to smash things down. He immediately leapt into action, jumping towards the tree, axe swinging through it.

"She's a celestial wizard?!" the girl demanded, her eyes wide and looking down on the scene. "And she can open one of the twelve zodiac gates!"

"Nice work, Taurus!" Lucy praised, fist clenched.

"Why don't you reward me with a smoooch?" Taurus tried, axe held high in the air in what Lucy thought Taurus thought must have been a flattering pose. It wasn't.

"What kind of celestial wizard forces their spirits to say things like that?" the girl above them asked, disbelief evident in her tone. "You disgust me." Lucy found that she had to quickly rectify the situation.

"I don't force him to say it! I hate when he's pervy!" she snapped back at her, raising a fist for emphasis.

The pink haired girl smiled, and Lucy paused slightly, wondering why for a second. "Either way, I pity any celestial wizard who sets herself against me. Your kind don't like my magic," her smile widened, "and you're about to find out why."

Lucy pointed at her, key in hand and glare firmly in place. "Taurus, get her!" She watched Taurus charge towards the cliff face where the girl was standing, surveying them with that strange smile, axe at the ready, and frowned when he suddenly came to a dead stop. A second later, Taurus was behind her, swinging the axe towards her, and Lucy screamed, jumping to evade the unexpected attack.

"Taurus! What is wrong with you!?" she shouted as she dodged the blows from the axe, heart pounding as one swung too close to home and missing her by a hair's breadth. "STOP IT!" Another attack narrowly missed her face, and Taurus trapped her limbs to the ground.

"Miss Looocy," he said, managing to speak despite his contradictory motions. "I can't control my mooovements!"

"My marionette attack magic. I can control all things that aren't human." Lucy managed to glance up towards the pink haired girl again. She was moving her hands in the imitation of a mad puppeteer, pulling on the strings of some helpless puppets, and even from this distance Lucy could see the crazed gleam in her eyes. "And that includes celestial spirits! They aren't human, after all!"

"Please, Taurus, let me go!" she tried, trying to free her arms from Taurus's grip. He wouldn't budge, though. "Taurus!"

"I wish that I could, Miss Looocy," Taurus replied. It sounded as though he was struggling with himself, as well, and it made Lucy's heart ache to think of one of her spirits suffering because of a situation she'd put them in. Unwittingly, admittedly, but she'd still called Taurus out to fight for her. "I can't help it! She's controlling my every mooove!"

" ** _Close now! Gate of the Golden Bull!_** " Lucy shouted, desperately clutching at straws. It was a desperate move to try and force close a spirit's gate, she knew. Gates could only be shut through mutual consent – if she pulled this stunt with Aquarius, Lucy knew she'd find herself floating half-way out to sea without a raft. As she expected, Taurus didn't disappear back to the celestial spirit world, and she was still struggling against him. Even worse, the pink haired girl seemed to know exactly how celestial spirit contracts worked.

"I thought celestial gates couldn't be closed unless both parties consent to it," she said softly, her voice somehow reverberating around the area and into Lucy's ears. "One can never close a gate alone."

"Close the gate! Taurus, please!" Lucy tried again, her wrists and arms aching from being held into the ground from such a tremendous amount of force.

"How about a round of Russian-roulette-punches?" the girl asked, grinning away wildly now. She moved her fingers slightly. "Close your eyes and punch 'til you get a hit!"

Lucy stared on in horror was Taurus was forced to do just that, and ducked out of the way of his oncoming fists. "Taurus!"

"So this is the best we can expect from a Fairy Tail wizard?" the girl asked casually, still puppeteering Taurus as though he were a puppet for her to play with. "This is just pathetic."

Lucy ignored her and focused on her spirit. "Taurus, remember the contract you made with me! Snap out of it!" She felt tears gathering in the corners of her eyes as she recalled their first meeting in that field, in a time that seemed so long ago. "You promised that you'd always be around to protect me, remember?!" Taurus was staring at her, the pink glow in his eyes flashing, and Lucy knew instinctively that he was recalling that memory as well, their first meeting in that field of cows. Suddenly, he reared back, clutching his head as though in pain.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" the pink haired girl demanded from her makeshift base on the ledge, no longer looking so happy. "Just finish her off already!"

Taurus readied his arm to swing down again, and Lucy didn't even attempt to dodge the coming blow. "You heard what she said!" she yelled up at him. "We can send you back but we gotta work together!" She thought she could see a flicker of him coming back in his eyes, and she continued shouting. " _You gotta fight it, Taurus!_ " Taurus's fist swung down towards her, and stopped just short of her face. Her spirit was surrounded by the familiar golden glow, and he smiled at her in relief and thanks before vanishing back into the celestial world.

Lucy lay there for a second, breathing heavily and unable to believe what had just happened. She lifted her hands and stared at the back of them, at the pink Fairy Tail emblem on the back of her right hand. "I-it worked," she gasped out, mind whirring. "I was able to do a forced closure!" She sat up, hand going to her chest. She could feel her heart pounding against her rib cage with the adrenaline of the fight, and she felt lightheaded as it began to leave her brain. "Oh, wow," she said faintly, looking at the ground. "I've… grown up a little."

She leapt to her feet, grabbing the whip off of her hip, sparkling grin firmly in place. " _That's right!_  You're dealing with a full-fledged member of the Fairy Tail guild now!"

The girl (Lucy decided to start calling her Pinkie in her head, at least until she discovered her actual name) leapt down nimbly off her perch, landing with a light thud on the slightly rocky terrain. She was staring at Lucy with a calm expression, even despite everything that had just occurred. "I suppose I should have expected this from the likes of a Fairy Tail wizard," she said casually, as though she had no cares in the world. Considering she had screeching and cursing Lucy's soul to eternal damnation only ten minutes ago, it was a pretty quick turnaround in moods.

"Our battle here is just beginning!" Lucy announced, pulling the whip taut between her hands. Pinkie smiled that creepy smile of hers again.

"Let's not forget," she smiled, shifting slightly, "that your celestial spirits have no effect on me. My powers allow me to take control of any that you may call forth."

Lucy smirked, plan already formed in mind, and her hand went to her keys. "Don't be so sure. I still have plenty of dangerous spirits I can call on!" she said. She whipped out a key – a silver one this time – and held it out in front of her. " ** _Open! Gate of Canis Minor: Nikora!_** " The golden light momentarily flooded the area, and Plue appeared before them. Lucy saw Pinkie raising her hands in the puppeteer position, and inwardly smirked again.

" ** _Doll attack: Marionette!_** " Pinkie said, smiling like Lucy had stepped into her own grave. "Now you're my puppet!"

Plue turned around from where he'd been walking to face Lucy, an evil glint in his eyes. "Plue?" Lucy asked, adding an edge of uncertainty for extra effect. "Not you, too!" Plue launched towards her, swinging his tiny fists with everything he had at her boots. She stared down at where he was attempting to pummel her legs to death, and then glanced back up at the dumbfounded expression Pinkie wore.

"You're kidding me!" Pinkie exclaimed, eyes wide, and Lucy let the smirk out fully.

"I knew you'd fall for that!" Lucy shouted, and she leapt up and forwards, cracking her whip towards Pinkie. Pinkie only just jumped out of the way in time, looking less than pleased with the fact that she'd been tricked.

"You deliberately summoned a weak spirit!" she said accusingly. Lucy straightened her back slightly, smiling wider.

"That's right," she confirmed, pointing the handle of her whip in Pinkie's direction for emphasis, "I knew that if I called forth little Plue here, it would make your spell totally pointless!" She cracked her whip at the girl again, forcing her to quickly jump out of the way to dodge. Where the whip landed, the rock cracked and shattered into pieces.

As she landed, looking more battered than before and more annoyed, Pinkie announced, "I release you from command!"

The evil glint faded from Plue's eyes, and he immediately turned apologetic, bowing continuously. Lucy smiled at him and said gently, "I know you didn't mean it! Now go back, okay!" With that, Plue's gate closed, leaving Lucy alone with Pinkie again. Pinkie looked far less composed than before, and Lucy felt a surge of pride for being able to wipe that smug look off her face.

" ** _Marionette attack: Rock Doll!_** " Pinkie yelled, raising her hands into the puppeteer motion. Rocks began raising around her, and Lucy readied herself into a defensive position, smile still in place.

"We're just gonna keep going in circles, aren't we?" she asked, dodging a couple of rocks that fell towards her with ease. "I bring out a spirit to wreck your doll." She dodged another rock. "And when you take it over, I close the gate!"

She stopped short as the doll finished forming. Before her was a giant rock 'doll' composed entirely of boulders, holes in the upper part where Lucy supposed eyes and a mouth should go. That only added to the creepiness of it, but it was also kind of funny that Pinkie thought to add that in. Pinkie herself was standing on top of the doll, like the mad puppeteer she was, pulling its strings. Lucy felt a little part of her die inside at the thought of going up against it.

Pinkie laughed. "It's like we're playing cat and mouse.  _I love that game!_ " Another laugh. "Let's see what you can do, little mouse! You think you can wreck my rock doll?"

Lucy felt herself sweating slightly. "I don't think I have a spirit strong enough to destroy that thing!"

The rock doll raised a heavy, bouldery fist, and brought it back down almost instantly. Lucy jumped to avoid it, but the shockwaves and resultant flying debris from the impact still sent her flying forward. Getting up, she tried to run, only to find another rock fist land near her, sending her flying off again. She screamed as she tried to land in a position that would cause the least amount of pain – as it turned out, when landing on rocks, there was no position that caused the least amount of pain. Getting up again, she started running through the thick jungle, screaming as loud as she could.

"Don't let her get away, rock doll!" Pinkie commanded from the top of the giant walking monstrosity. "Let's teach that foolish little girl a lesson!"

For some reason, that insult really annoyed Lucy to no end. How dare she call Lucy a little girl, when Pinkie herself looked to be around Lucy's age?! "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A LITTLE GIRL?! WE'RE THE SAME AGE!  ** _I MIGHT EVEN BE A LITTLE OLDER!_** "

Pinkie laughed again, and shouted down, "It's not a good idea to keep babbling like that. Unless you want us to catch you, of course!"

Lucy pulled her keys off her belt and started going through them as she ran. "Okay, what spirits do I have that can help me out in this situation?" she asked herself, panicking. The first spirit that came to mind was Horologium, then she immediately crossed him off. He could probably give her a countdown to when she was about to get crushed, but he couldn't fight off the giant pile of rocks that was currently chasing her. Cancer was no good in situation, either. Sure, he could make Pinkie bald, but there was no hair on the rocks to remove. And Lyra? She wasn't exactly a battle spirit to begin with, let alone against that giant monstrosity.

"You'd better hurry! If you don't start moving faster, then we're gonna catch up with you!" Pinkie taunted from her makeshift throne. There was then another tremendous thud, and Lucy went flying forwards as a rock fist hit the ground behind her. Quickly regaining her balance, she ran faster, trying to stay away from the thing chasing her.

She came to a dead stop at the edge of a cliff, then turned in trepidation.

Then immediately screamed.

A giant rock foot was hanging over her, preparing to crush her into Lucy-mush.

"I command you to crush her flat!" Pinkie shouted, sounding gleeful as she moved her hands around. Immediately, the rock doll brought his giant rock foot down. Lucy was thrown backwards by the force of the tremors, once again, and she found herself at the very edge, looking down at the ocean. Just as she thought things couldn't get any worse, a large crack began to appear between her and the rock doll. As she felt it beginning to break and fall, she did the only thing that came to mind.

She screamed.

The landing hurt, but to her surprise, she landed on sand, not in water. That was one thing to be thankful for, she supposed. If she had landed in water, then it may have hurt even more. Lucy lay there for a moment, winded and head spinning, trying to figure out which way was up from which was right.

"Finish her, rock doll!" Pinkie screeched, and Lucy opened her eyes. The rock doll was preparing to jump down from where she had fallen, and Lucy screamed, scrambling to get out of the way before it landed on her and squished her. As Lucy started running forwards, Pinkie started laughing, "There's nowhere to run, Blondie!"

A sparkle caught Lucy's eye, and she paused in her running. Of course, she was in front of water. A large body of water, in fact. "The sea," she murmured thoughtfully, an idea lighting up her mind as the tremors continued through the sand, shifting the granules around her boots. "I could summon Aquarius from here…" The tremors grew in intensity, and Lucy turned to find the rock doll nearly directly behind her.

"It looks like the cat's finally going to catch the mouse!" Pinkie declared victoriously, smirking like a cat that had just gotten all the cream.

Lucy stared at the rock doll, frowning. "Water can't destroy that thing," she muttered to herself, keeping her eyes on her enemies. "Besides, Aquarius will just wash me away with her attack…" She trailed off as an idea came to her like a flash of lightning. "Wash me away… That's it!"

Ignoring Pinkie's taunts, Lucy evaded another fist slamming down near her, and instead hurried the last few feet towards the water, golden key already in hand. " ** _Open! Gate of the Water Bearer: Aquarius!_** " she shouted as she stuck the key into the sea, desperately hoping that her plan would work. Otherwise, she was pretty sure she was going to end up squished on the side of a boulder somewhere. Out of the golden light appeared Aquarius, Lucy's most powerful spirit (and her oldest friend, although she'd never tell Aquarius that, for fear of being washed away).

"Aquarius?!" Pinkie demanded, pointing at her furiously. "How does a weakling like you have a spirit with that kind of power?!"

Lucy turned to Aquarius. "That girl is our enemy!" she yelled, pointing at Pinkie, just so Aquarius knew which girl to aim for. Not that it would actually matter. "You hate her kind! So go get her!"

Aquarius just gave her a look. " _Tch_."

"I DON'T HAVE TIME TO DEAL WITH YOUR BAD ATTITUDE!" Lucy yelled at her, done with marionette attacks and spirits not listening to her and supporting her. She was ready to go to bed and not move for  _at least_ six hours, and Aquarius giving her attitude was the last straw. "JUST GET OVER THERE AND TAKE HER DOWN WITHOUT THE COMPLAINTS,  _NOW!_ "

"Well, I see you're just as annoying as ever," Aquarius said coolly, as though she hadn't been called there to fight a monstrous pile of rocks that were five seconds away from beating Lucy to death. "No wonder you still don't have a  _boyfriend_."

"WHY'D YOU HAVE TO KEEP RUBBING IT IN LIKE THAT?!" Lucy shouted back at her. " **LEAVE ME OUT OF THIS!** "

Pinkie held out her hands and said, " ** _Doll attack: Marionette!_** " Immediately, Aquarius's eyes took on the same glazed look that Taurus and Plue's had when Lucy had summoned them. "Now you will do as I command!"

Aquarius stared at Pinkie, looking unimpressed. "What."

"Now you can't use Aquarius! You might as well send her back!" Pinkie said, laughing.

"No. Not her," Lucy replied, instantly thinking of all the times Aquarius had scolded her, and gotten her out of a tight spot. As much as Aquarius might hate her, Lucy could never get rid of her. "I'd never throw away my trump card!"

"I bet you won't think that when the sea washes away your pitiful existence!" She looked at Aquarius. "Now, Aquarius! Send this stupid girl into the next life!"

Aquarius, if it were possible, looked even more annoyed. "WHAT?" she demanded, her face darkening. She started up her signature attack, with a giant wave forming out of the urn that she carried. There was a small flash, and then suddenly the entire area was flooded with a giant tidal wave. Lucy felt her life flash before her eyes as she stared up at it, and for a moment she wondered if this had really been a good idea. Before she could dwell anymore on 'what if's, the wave near-enough grabbed hold of her and began to wash her away, screaming for dear life.

Pinkie laughed. "Say goodbye, little – "

Lucy looked over in time to see the giant wave heading towards the rock doll and Pinkie. Whose face was frozen in horror as she realised that yes, she was about to join Lucy in being washed away by a vengeful Aquarius. The wave reached her, and she too began yelling as the wave pulled her into it's swirling depths, like an overly wet twister.

She thought she heard Aquarius shout, " _Buh-bye!_ " and suddenly, the watery twister of death stopped. She and Pinkie were left deposited on the beach, both in sorry states of disrepair, and Lucy struggled to her feet. Man, she was dizzy as hell. And if the world could stop spinning any time soon, that would be fantastic. "Leave it to Aquarius to hurl her waves against friend and foe alike!" she said optimistically, trying to balance and failing miserably. Why were there two of the rock dolls standing on the beach?

Pinkie had struggled to her feet as well, and seemed to be having as much trouble walking as Lucy did. At least that was something. "I hate myself for allowing you to trick me again!" She started moving around, wobbling unsteadily. "But it doesn't matter because she wasn't strong enough to destroy my rock doll!"

"Yeah, what about it? That thing can't do anything if you're not there to control it!" Lucy started trying to move around too, which was proving very difficult when the sand on the ground was also moving around with her. "And all I had to do is get you away from that thing and it worked because now you're too dizzy to even walk in a straight line!"

She felt something bump into her back, and she knew instinctively it was Pinkie. Immediately, she started flailing her fists at her, trying to hit any part of her opponent without accidentally hitting herself in the process. "That's what you get for messing with a member of Fairy Tail!"

"You're just as dizzy as I am! I can't believe this ended up in a stalemate!"

"Don't be stupid! I'm the clear winner here!"

"You can't declare yourself the winner of a fight! If that's the case, then I'm the winner here!"

Lucy had had enough. So much so that all of her senses came back to her, and the dizziness suddenly faded. "I don't think so!" she yelled, smacking Pinkie square across the chin with her forearm and sending her flying. Lucy had never felt so satisfied in her entire life as she did in that moment.

"NO! How did this happen to me? I never lose!" Pinkie cried, landing on the ground a distance away with a thud.

"Oh yeah? Well ya just did!" Lucy declared, deciding to declare herself the victor of this fight. It had been a long, drawn-out fight for both her and her spirits, and she felt she deserved this. Behind them, the giant rock doll crumbled back down into smaller rocks, and Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wouldn't be being chased by that thing through the jungle anymore.

"Even if the light in my soul were to be snuffed out," Pinkie said from the side, hand on her chest like she was in one of the bad lacrima vision dramas, "I will never be untrue in my love you, Cold Emperor!"

Lucy stared at her. "You're not gonna die, so let's stop being such a drama queen, okay?"

Pinkie stared up at the sky, as though she hadn't heard Lucy. Or was ignoring her, which seemed more likely. "Angelica… Avenge your master's death."

"What — " Lucy started, but a sound coming from behind her, where the former rock doll, made her stop. She turned, and her mind blanked. The giant rat that had thrown the bucket of acidic jelly onto the village was heading her way, looking like it wanted to crush her as badly as the rock doll did. "But I thought that was one of her puppets!" Not even thinking about it, she turned and was about to run, only to collapse next to Pinkie. She tried to move them, to no avail, and she began to panic. "Oh no, I can't move my legs for some reason!"

The rat was still getting closer. It was directly over her and Pinkie, and any second now she was about to be squished, her remains forever to be imprinted on the sand. She screeched as she continued trying to move, but to no avail, and just when she thought it was all over –

A sword appeared, slashing across the rat's chest faster than Lucy's eyes could follow. From that one slash, the rat flew backwards with a pained screech and landed a short distance away. Lucy's eyes went back to the sword, and its owner. Who had long, scarlet hair…

"Erza!" she yelled happily, beyond relieved to see someone friendly out in the jungle with her. Erza turned her head to look at her, and Lucy shivered from the dark look Erza was giving her. For a moment, Lucy was convinced that she was the demon of the guild, and not Natsu. That was when Lucy remembered how they'd came to be on Galuna Island. They'd broken guild rules. They'd taken an S-Class quest from the second floor without permission.

And now Erza was mad at them.

Lucy felt her soul leave her body.


	15. Chapter 15

Lucy stared at Erza, her heart beating fast inside her chest like a drum of war. Erza, with her scarlet hair, her shining armour and her glistening blades, usually looked like a sight to be happy at. In that moment, however, Lucy felt as though everything around her shrinking into a tiny black box of  ** _doom_**. So this was how an enemy felt when they faced the great Titania.

Erza regarded her with a dark, cool look that left tingles down her spine. "Lucy," she greeted with a single, short incline of her head. "I assume you know why I'm here." She paused, staring at her target. "You do, don't you?"

Lucy knew she had to tread carefully. Erza was angry with her, and with Gray, for breaking guild rules. If there was one thing that Erza hated more than criminals who tarnished the reputation of Fairy Tail, it was those who broke guild rules. And she had broken guild rules by coming to this island. Slowly and carefully, she tried, "To… take us… back?" It came out more as a question than a statement, and Erza didn't look impressed. "Promise you won't hurt me?"

Even to Lucy, that sounded like begging, and lame begging at that.

The faint sound of wings flapping from above them diverted both of their attention momentarily, and Lucy briefly panicked, thinking that Pinkie had called for another one of her freaky pets to come and 'avenge' her. To her immense relief, though, all she saw was a flying blue cat she'd come to associate with feelings of annoyance. She never thought she'd be so happy to see Happy in her life.

"There you are!" he greeted, gliding down to them gracefully and grinning away, like his namesake. "I've been looking all over for you! I'm glad you're okay!" He noticed Erza and flew over to her, apparently oblivious to the demonic aura she was giving off. "Hey, Erza!"

Erza's aura broke, and she stared at Happy with a startled expression. "Happy?" she asked, confusedly. "I had no idea you were here. I thought you had gone on a job with Natsu and Laxus?"

Happy nodded enthusiastically. "Aye! We were tracking something down and it lead us here!" he explained, moving to hover between Erza and Lucy like a fly. At least that gave Lucy a makeshift shield from Erza's wrath.

"And Natsu and Laxus are here?" Erza asked. Happy nodded again, and Erza frowned. "I see," she said flatly, then returned her attention back to Lucy. "Where is Gray?" she asked, sounding as though she'd already made up her mind to drag them both back to Magnolia, kicking and screaming or possibly dead. Lucy needed to get her to listen to reason, needed to get her to let them help the villagers.

"Listen!" she said imploringly, sitting up a little bit and wincing from the pain it caused. With the adrenaline from the fight with Pinkie all but faded, she could definitely feel every bruise and cut from where she'd been forced to land to avoid a punch, or where she'd fallen from the small cliff's edge. Somehow, she knew Erza wouldn't feel sympathetic at the moment, though. "I'm sorry that we broke the rules, but some really awful things have been happening on this island!" Erza continued to stare at her stonily. "There are some people who are trying to revive this frozen demon that Natsu says is bad news! And the spell that they're using are causing the innocent villagers to suffer!" Lucy looked down. "We just wanted to help them, and when we ran into Natsu and Laxus…"

Erza's face didn't change. "None of that is my concern," she said flatly.

"Please, Erza! At least let us finish this job and – " Lucy was cut off as Erza drew her sword and pointed it directly at Lucy's throat. Happy hovered at the side, uncertainty in his face.

"I don't think you understand. You and Gray have betrayed Master Makarov!" Erza said darkly, and there was no mistaking the murderous glint in her eye. Lucy swallowed, trying to calm her nerves. Erza inclined her head, shadowing her eyes even more in darkness. "You'll be lucky if you walk away with your lives."

Lucy stared at her, fear coursing through her faster than Aquarius's waves ever could.

* * *

Gray had been dancing on the edge of consciousness for some time, but it was the ray of a bright light hitting his eyelids, and causing that bright red glow across his eyes, that finally caused him to wake up. As he did, the first thing he registered in his groggy mind was that he was lying on something pretty soft, and he couldn't figure out why. His last memory was of walking through the jungle with Lucy, and discovering that temple with the giant rat outside of it. The second thing he registered was the feeling of bandages covering his body in different places, and the pain that went with them. Feeling the pain from them also caused his memories of the previous night to return – Deliora, Lyon, Natsu the flame-headed bastard knocking him out.

Cautiously, he sat up, wincing at the pain it caused in his stomach. Natsu really knew how to punch someone, even if it was to just knock out a friend, Gray observed, putting a hand to his stomach and feeling the rough bandages over the skin. Then, he looked around.

The room he was in was filled with crates and barrels, and rolls of fabric tied up next to pots. Gray frowned in confusion as he stared at them, trying to recall if he had ever seen the place before, but coming up blank. Slowly, he got to his feet, stumbling a bit, and made his way towards what he assumed to be a door of sorts – he realised that the room he was in was in fact a tent. "Where am I?" he murmured, opening the tent's flap and staring out.

The tent wasn't in the village. Instead, it seemed to be some sort of temporary community area. Washing lines had been set up between tents, clothes and sheets hanging from them. More crates and barrels lined the outside of makeshift walkways in the middle of the area, and Gray felt even more confused. What had happened whilst he'd been asleep? Cautiously, he stepped outside the tent and into the unknown territory. Almost immediately, he heard a voice call out to him.

"Oh, you're awake!" a female voice said from the side. "Thank goodness." Gray turned to the voice and found one of the villagers looking at him with an infinitely relieved expression. She was probably around his age, with short dark hair and wearing what looked like a ceremonial necklace.

"What is this place?" Gray asked, glancing around them again. There were just so many pots and crates around them. The girl smiled awkwardly, and it was kind of endearing.

"It makes sense that you're pretty surprised," she smiled, clasping her hands in front of her. "We're in a place not too far from the village. We normally store supplies here." Her smile became less bright as she continued talking. "Our village was… destroyed last night, so we evacuated everyone to here."

Gray stared at her, mind racing. "Your village was destroyed?" he repeated slowly, trying to process that. He then remembered when he, Natsu, Laxus and Lucy were hiding on the temple roof, spying on Lyon and his crazy friends. How Lyon had ordered them to 'eradicate the village'. Gray's stare went to the temporary shelter the villagers had created, fists clenched and shaking. "Lyon… I can't believe you really did it!" Gray cringed as a sharp pain went through his chest, suspiciously close to his heart.

"Thanks to your friends, though, nobody was hurt," the girl smiled, scratching her arm nervously. One arm looked like a demon's, Gray noted. "We may have lost the village, but at least all of our lives were saved."

Gray nodded, thankful that at least everyone was safe. "So, are they still here?" Gray asked, looking around for any sign of his friends. No sign of any scorch marks or anything destroyed, which probably meant Natsu hadn't found this place yet. That was just as well for the villagers. He might have helped to save them, but Gray knew full well that the fire-breathing demon could just as easily – and accidentally – destroy the entire area just by tripping.

The girl nodded, smiling again. "Yes. They actually wanted me to show you to their tent, once you'd finally woken up." She walked past him and began to lead him to a larger tent than what he'd been in, towards the centre of the makeshift village. Once in front of the tent, she nodded at him in farewell and went off elsewhere, leaving Gray standing in front of the tent alone. Taking a deep breath, Gray pushed the door aside and stepped inside.

Erza was there, sitting cross-legged and hands clasped on her lap, a dark look in her eye. Lucy was kneeling next to her chair, tied up to apparently prevent her from escaping. Over in the corner, Laxus and Happy were hovering in the shadows, watching them with boredom and concern respectively.

Gray stopped, feeling like a bucket of ice-cold water had just been poured over him.

"You made me wait," Erza said darkly, not moving a muscle. "Not smart."

"Erza!" Gray cried out in surprise and horror, not sure which emotion was strongest at that moment in time. If he was honest, it was probably the horror. He looked at the others, eyes wide. "Lucy! Happy!" He glanced at Laxus. "Laxus," he added coolly, who just grunted in greeting, not moving. "What are – " he began to ask, only to be cut off by Erza.

"I believe the proper etiquette in this case would be grovelling for my forgiveness, Gray," Erza remarked flatly, staring at Gray with those sharp daggers in her eyes. Gray felt like he was being stabbed with Lyon's ice, and he opened his mouth to start protesting, but Erza beat him to the punch again. "Don't even bother," she said dismissively, waving a gauntleted hand, "I've already heard everything from these two." She gestured at Lucy and Laxus. Happy made a  _what about me?_  gesture in the background.

"Where's Natsu?" he asked, noting his absence. Sure, he'd noticed that he wasn't in the makeshift camp before, given that everything was fully intact and unburnt and unbroken, but it looked far more obvious when he was standing in a room with everyone but that fire-headed freak.

"I haven't seen him," Erza replied, as though Natsu's absence on a strange island where a demon sealed in ice was living didn't bother her.

"We ended up split up last night," Laxus supplied from his corner, arms crossed over his chest like some hulking bodyguard for Erza. "I think he had some idiotic plan in mind." He rolled his eyes and shrugged, massive shoulders moving upwards then dropping. Gray was surprised he could move in that overcoat he always wore. Hell, Gray was surprised he was wearing it on a warm island like Galuna. "I haven't seen the idiot since. He probably overslept in a bush somewhere."

That didn't give Gray confidence. For a demon, Natsu could be an idiot at times.

"It sounds as though you both have it under control," Erza said, glancing over at Laxus. He gave a weird half-shrug, like he couldn't be bothered to even do that, and Erza nodded. "In that case, I'll be taking these two back to the guild." She stood and started to walk past Gray towards the door of the tent.

Gray stared at her. "What are you talking about? If you've heard about what's going on, then you know what these villagers are going through!" he protested, and Erza stopped and stared at him, expression flat.

"And what would be your point?" she asked coolly. Her eyes were still as dark and dangerous as they were when Gray entered the room, and he knew that he was walking in dangerous territory. In the corner of his eye, he could see Lucy and Happy shaking, and Laxus ignoring their entire conversation like the bastard he was. "I am here to bring back those who broke guild rules. I have no interest in anything other than that."

"Have you even seen what's happened to the people on this island?!" Gray burst out, wanting to shake Erza by her armour to try and get her to understand that there were more important things at stake than the damn guild rules. If they needed to be punished, then they could be punished later. After they helped these people.

"I have."

"And you're just gonna leave them that way?!"

"I won't be turning my back on them," Erza replied, turning and staring at Gray with that dangerous look again. "Have you forgotten that there are currently two S-Class wizards, besides myself, on this island? They are more than capable of finishing this job, and far more qualified than you."

Gray wasn't convinced. "I'm not leaving this island until this job is done."

A red magic circle appeared next to Erza's hand, and within a second there was a sword in it. She swung it around, and pointed it straight at Gray's chest, her expression carefully blank. "So you are choosing to defy the guild's rules, even now?" she asked, blank expression turning into a glare. "Then you will receive punishment!"

Gray grabbed hold of the blade, not caring about the biting sting of the metal as it dug into his palm and fingers, and pointed it at his own throat instead. "Do what you must," he said flatly, staring holes in Erza's face to match the ones she was staring in his. He didn't care about the blood that was starting to run down his fingers as he forced the blade further towards the junction between his throat and his neck as Erza hesitated – he could see that hesitation in her eyes, no matter how well she masked it on her face – or the biting pain that was accompanying it. "I've made my choice, and I'm not turning my back on these people."

Erza's jaw clenched in a silent growl, and Gray let go of the sword, prepared for anything. The sword fell away, small splatters of blood – his blood – falling to the floor. "I intend to see this through to the end," he said with finality, eyes blank. "If you want to stab me for that, then by all means, stab away."

Without waiting for an answer, or a stabbing, he walked straight past Erza and through the door of the tent, leaving them all behind.

* * *

Erza stared after him, looking between the still-slowly moving door to the tent, and the blade end of her sword. Blood was still dripping from it in, making  _plip_  sounds as they landed on the ground. She didn't know what she was feeling, but she knew she was furious with Gray in that moment. Fighting to control her breathing, she slowly turned around.

"Please don't be mad at me! I don't have any control over Gray!" Lucy wailed, tears running down her face and shaking uncontrollably. Happy flew up near her, his eyes wide like saucers.

"Aye! He's not feeling like himself like now because he lost a fight to his old friend!"

Erza whipped around, stared at them for a split second, then swung her sword towards them. She barely registered Lucy's, " ** _Laxus! Save me!_** " before the blade made contact with the ropes that bound her target, severing them. Lucy and Happy looked down at the severed pile of rope, confusion in their face. "Wha— ?"

"These events are intolerable," Erza said by way of explanation, holding her sword out to the side for a moment before sheathing it away with the rest of her arsenal. "We'll deal with the immediate problems for now." Lucy stood up slowly, looking ready to cheer in celebration. Erza couldn't have that. "This doesn't change anything. You and Gray are still going to face punishment."

"Yes, ma'am," Lucy said, looking considerably more dejected than she had a second ago.

Erza looked at the door, then back at her comrades. Between herself, Laxus, Lucy and Happy, they could do significant damage against the scoundrels that had dared to harm the villagers. If only they knew where Natsu had gotten to… "Do you know where Natsu might be?" she asked Laxus. She'd already asked that when she'd arrived, she knew, but anything to help finish the job quickly and get the fools back to the guild would be a tremendous help.

Laxus gave her a look. "I already told you, tin can. I have no idea where he is," he said, shifting slightly and looking annoyed. "I'm not his damned keeper." Erza just sighed.

"Let's go," she said, waving a hand towards the rest of them.

* * *

Out in the jungle a ways away from the temporary camp, in front of the ruined temple, a giant flame appeared out of nowhere. Groggily, Natsu stumbled out of it with all the grace of Jackal on stilts (the thought made him mentally snicker), and he stared up at the crumbling building. He rubbed the back of his neck and yawned, exposing sharp fangs.

"Man," he said, yawning mid-word and attempting to rub the sleep out of his eyes. "This sucks. Just when I come up with the perfect plan – " he paused to yawn again and started walking forward, amazed that he managed not trip, "I go and oversleep!" He reached the entrance to the temple and stood there for a second, inhaling the dry air. He could smell how old the temple was just by the air and dust that there was floating around him. Somewhere between all of that, he could smell the masked creep's scent further above him, along with unfamiliar scents, and one very familiar one. Huh? What's she doing here?

Before he could dwell anymore on what Ultear Milkovich could want with someone like a masked freak, Natsu finally caught the scent of something older, and much further down, as though buried. He grinned, lighting his fists on fire and punching them together. " _Let's do this!_ "


	16. Chapter 16

Natsu walked slowly through the crumbling temple, making sure not to stomp through the floor this time around – so the last time had been an accident, but at least it had led to him and bolt brains discovering Deliora, which totally made up for the fall. But he didn't want to accidentally fall into another pit again and find some other monster, so he tread lightly. All of that was done whilst continuously sniffing the air, looking for his target.

The air had turned from the clean, chlorophyll-filled jungle air to stale, temple air a while ago. If Natsu had to estimate when, it was probably when he had to light one of his hands on fire for a light source, so he could actually see where he was going. Ordinarily, he could see well enough in the dark – it was another perk of being a dragon slayer, along with the enhanced hearing, sense of smell, reflexes and general toughness – but it was limited to him actually needing a small amount of light. Unlike creatures like owls, he couldn't see in total darkness. Which sucked, but whatever. He had his fire.

Natsu stopped, then looked around himself. Grinning, he raised his flaming fist higher to inspect his surroundings. Where there would have been either walls or a narrow tunnel leading who-knew-where, he was surrounded by ancient pillars, obviously the foundations of the temple. Perfect.

Natsu raised his free hand and put it close to the pillar on his right. He pulled it back for a second, then sent it flying forward again with a yelled, " ** _Sparks!_** " Tiny red and orange flames appeared around the pillar, lighting it up like a decoration. A second later, they exploded, leaving nothing but a small pile of rocks at the bottom behind. " ** _Sparks!_** " Natsu repeated to the five pillars behind it, and the red and orange flames immediately exploded again. When the cloud of dust cleared, there were no pillars standing on the right, and Natsu grinned happily.

There was a groaning coming from above, as though the temple was protesting to being stood on only six pillars on one side. Distantly, Natsu thought he could hear panicking coming from somewhere above him. The area around him began to shake, and Natsu watched as the entire temple above him, quite literally, began to slide to the right. The result of that was a very crooked, very tilted temple.

Natsu rubbed his hands to get rid of any excess dust. "That'll slow 'em down," he said happily to himself, then disappeared in a tall flame, leaving nothing but a scorch mark and the smell of the faint smell of burning behind.

He reappeared in what looked like a throne room, having followed the panicked voices he'd heard when he was destroying the foundations. As soon as he appeared, he heard more panicked yelling, and he looked around curiously. In the room with him was the masked freak – Lyon, Natsu remembered – the guy with dog ears and some short guy with a humongous mask. Natsu caught a whiff of women's perfume and a familiar and scent, and he instantly knew where Ultear was.

"Huh," was all he said, overall unimpressed. As far as evil lairs went, this was pretty subpar. At least Mard Geer had added flair to his, along with at least three antique doors around every corner.

"IT'S HIM!" the dog eared guy screamed, pointing in Natsu's direction, and Lyon sighed, a hand over his eyes.

"Do stop screaming, Toby," he sighed heavily, sounding very long suffering. He offered his minion a withering glance and dogman – Toby, apparently. Natsu never would have guessed – immediately shut up. Masked!Ultear stepped forward, standing next to Lyon. The sight of her disguised as a disgusting-looking old man both amused and creeped Natsu out to no end.

"Cold Emperor," she said – he said? Natsu had no idea. Leave it to Ultear to make things confusing for him – smiling creepily, "I believe we've found the culprit for the tremors in the temple before." She gestured to the walls behind her. "It seems that his intention was to destroy the columns that support the ruin on one side, therefore leaving it tilted towards that side. Since it is now tilted, the moonlight cannot reach Deliora."

Natsu grinned. "Simple plan and straight to the point." He lit his fists on fire and smashed them together. "What could be better?!"

With an annoyed snarl, Lyon stepped forward, hand going into a form that looked vaguely familiar to Natsu, except Gray used two hands, and shouted, " ** _Ice make: birds!_** " A flock of ice birds immediately materialised, small and razor sharp. Natsu was willing to bet that if he let them touch his skin, they'd at least rip a cut into it.  _Well, nah to that_.

Feeling lazy, he raised his body temperature slightly. His blood and internal temperature already ran hotter than most, but one of the perks of being a fire dragon slayer – and a fire demon, he supposed – was having the ability to raise it when he wanted to. That control was always nice. He stood there, watching the birds zoom closer to him –

And as soon as they were a few feet away from him, the birds shattered into a million pieces. It was like ice that had shattered under the heat of the sun. Natsu found it satisfying to watch. Apparently, Lyon didn't feel the same way, if the shocked, then infuriated, look on his face was anything to go by. Baring his teeth in a fierce snarl, Lyon threw another attack at him. This time, it was a dragon. Natsu just stared between the dragon and Lyon in incredulousness.

"Seriously?" he asked, holding out a hand. The ice dragon shattered upon impact, much like all of Gray's projectiles whenever he tried to fight with Natsu. Interesting. Natsu filed that information away for later. "You just sent a dragon towards a dragon slayer. A dragon made of ice towards the fire dragon slayer." Out of boredom, because standing around and watching ice melt gets boring after a time, Natsu sent a jet of fire towards his opponent, forcing Lyon to jump to dodge it. "What did you think was going to happen?"

Lyon paused to wipe his brow. "Don't get cocky, Salamander," he retorted, readying himself to throw another attack. Natsu mentally rolled his eyes. " ** _Ice make: tiger!_** "

The tiger, for some reason, was faster than the dragon. Obviously Lyon had never seen a dragon in battle before. Natsu teleported himself away from his spot, appearing again a split second later like nothing had happened. He brushed his hand against the tiger, and once again, it shattered into pieces. Natsu frowned at the water now on his hand, and he hastily wiped it on his clothes. He'd never liked water that much. "I was just statin' a fact, pal," he commented idly, shifting slightly and putting his hand back down by his side.

Lyon stared at him. "What magic is this?!" he asked, firing off more of his ice creations. Bored, Natsu allowed some to melt as they reached him, much like the first flock of birds had done. Others, like a giant gorilla, Natsu dodged before touching. Lyon seemed to be getting angrier, which amused Natsu to no end. "Fight back!  _Take this seriously!_ "

Natsu blinked, then started laughing. The very thought of fighting back seriously against this masked freak was hysterical. "Why?" Natsu asked, disappearing and appearing a few metres behind Lyon. Lyon whirled around, magic already forming at his hands for his next attack. Natsu laughed again. "I'm having fun as we are, and if I was to attack seriously, you'd just be a puddle of water on the floor, man."

Lyon's eye twitched, and in what seemed to be a fit of anger, he froze the entire area around them, walls and floor included. Natsu cackled again, having the time of his life. That seemed to make Lyon angrier still, and he threw more birds, sharp and dangerous, at Natsu. "Shut up!" he yelled, hair going askew. "I won't have you ruining my plans!" His eyes turned crazed, and Natsu had to dodge more ice creations, as well as literal blasts of ice. " ** _I will defeat Deliora!_** "

Natsu froze, the cogs turning in his mind. He stared at Lyon, not even bothering to try and move away from the attacks he continued throwing Natsu's way – they just cracked and shattered when in range, as Natsu's blood continued to boil and raise his temperature. "So that's it, huh?" he asked slowly, lowering his head slightly. His hair was now covering his eyes, but he didn't care. He laughed, the sound coming out harsh and bitter. "I knew you were dumb, but I never thought you were idiotic." He glared at the oncoming spike of ice heading towards him, and whatever Lyon saw made him freeze. "Why on Ishgar do you think you can defeat Deliora?!"

Out of rage, he shot a hand towards the still-coming ice spike and shouted, " ** _Sparks!_** " The ice exploded upon impact with the tiny red and orange flames, obviously not meant to touch them. Natsu breathed heavily, glaring at Lyon. "YOU CAN'T EVEN DEFEAT ME!"

* * *

"Whaaat?!" Lucy asked, nearly stumbling over a wayward tree branch, sprawled across the forest path. "Lyon thinks he can fight Deliora?!"

The five of them had been running – well, Happy had been flying, because he was lazy – through the thick jungle ever since Erza had given up on trying to drag Lucy and Gray back to the guild. Gray was in the lead, and he ignored Lucy for a moment, thinking back to his fight – he refused to think of it as a defeat – with Lyon, and Lyon's insane confession of wanting to defeat Deliora. There were more important things on his mind. Like stopping his insane former friend.

"Lyon has always dreamed of surpassing Ur," Gray explained, thinking of back when they were kids, Lyon professing to their teacher of how he'd surpass her one day, how Ur had always humoured him. "But since she's gone and he can't challenge her directly, Lyon's got it in his head that it's up to him to destroy Deliora, since it was the one thing that she couldn't do."

"I suppose that'd be the only way to challenge someone who's dead," Erza said, and Gray could imagine her nodding.

"It already looked half-dead when we found it," Laxus grunted, as though Lyon was an idiot. Which he was. "Even if he could defeat it, which is unlikely for a weakling like him – "

"Laxus," Erza growled in warning, and Gray glanced over his shoulder in time to see Erza sending Laxus a demonic glare. Laxus ignored it.

" – there's no way that could be counted as a victory!" Laxus seemed to be getting really worked up over it. "You don't just walk up to a creature that's nearly dead anyway, blast it with a spell and say you beat it in a battle to the death. It doesn't work like that!"

"Simmer down there, Laxicle," Happy snickered. Laxus turned to him, eyes glowing with irritation.

" _DON'T CALL ME THAT!_ " he snapped. A lightning bolt inadvertently struck the ground near where everyone stood, and Happy laughed harder. Gray ignored them, mind focused on the memories of his last moments with Ur again. How her face and body had begun to crack as she'd cast iced shell on Deliora. The promise she'd made Gray swear to before she –

Gray furiously shook his head _. I'm sorry, Ur._  If it was to stop Lyon from melting that ice and freeing Deliora, then he'd break that promise a thousand times over.

"I need to get in there and talk to him," Gray said, nearly tripping over another tree branch. "I'm the only one who can stop him now."

"And how exactly do you plan on getting him to listen?" Laxus asked, sounding pretty tired of being on the island, and more like he'd just like to blow the entire thing up and be done with it. Gray couldn't exactly blame him. "He didn't seem the listening type last time we saw him." Even though he couldn't see Laxus, Gray just knew he was rolling his eyes.

"Because iced shell is a technique that takes the caster's very life and turns it into the ice that holds the victim," Gray explained, trying not to think about that night, so many years ago. He was failing badly at that, though. All he could think about lately, though, was her face as it shattered into ice. The ice that held Deliora prisoner. The ice that Lyon was trying to melt to satisfy his childish pride. "Ur became the ice." He heard a sharp intake of breath from behind him, and he thought it was from Lucy or Happy. "I need to tell him that Ur's still alive!"

They'd reached the temple by then, and Gray skidded to a stop and spun around to face the others, breathing heavily from exertion. It wasn't like he was out of shape, but he had been running quickly to try and get to the temple in order to try and talk, or smack, some sense into Lyon before he did something everyone would regret. They all returned their attention back to the temple, and, after a moment, Lucy tilted her head to the side.

"Hey, guys?" she asked, head still sideways and sounding like she thought she'd lost it. "For some reason, the temple looks a bit… tilted?"

It did. Before, the centre of the temple had pointed straight up towards the moon. When they were looking at it then, however, the temple was almost sideways, with the centre of the temple pointing to the right. Gray honestly had no idea what to think for a moment, and his brain was drawing up blanks –

"Natsu," Laxus said, sighing and rolling his eyes.

Gray looked at Laxus's resigned expression, then back up at the temple, and he could see it. The level of destruction involved in tilting the temple sideways had Natsu written all over it. "Of course he'd be the only one to do this. He's the only one insane enough to do this." He crossed his arms and looked at the top of the temple. "It's a pretty great idea if he meant to do it on purpose. Now that the temple's tilted, the moonlight won't hit Deliora."

"I didn't realise he could be so destructive," Lucy said, sounding a bit confused, and Erza actually laughed.

"The destruction only happens if he gets sloppy on a job," she clarified, still chuckling away. Gray couldn't blame her. Natsu destroyed at least one thing per job, even when he was being careful. At least he wasn't Gildarts, though. The thought of that made him shudder.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gray saw Laxus glance to the side, where a thick layer of bushes and trees were. They narrowed, and he jumped towards the rest of them at the same time as Erza did.

"Watch out!" Erza shouted, bashing Lucy and Happy out of the way, sending them flying and ignoring their screams.

"We've got visitors," Laxus intoned dryly, lightning bolts already at the ready. Not a moment later, what looked like knives came flying out of the brush towards them, and Gray had to jump to dodge being impaled by them. Laxus simply obliterated them on his lightning forks, whilst Erza sent them flying back like a twisted game of volleyball.

"Who's there?!" Erza demanded, dodging another round of knives and landing deftly on her hand, before flipping back onto her feet. She looked furious at their cowardice, and Gray didn't pity what their punishment would be once she got her hands on them. There was the rustling of leaves, and a large group of masked people clambered out of the bushes. A strange symbol was on all of the masks, above the eyes, but Gray didn't recognise it.

"We found them! It's Fairy Tail!" the lead one yelled gleefully, nearly tripping over an overgrown branch that snagged their robe. Everyone collectively decided to ignore that.

"We've got you now!" another voice shouted, and they turned to the source. Another group, wearing the same masks and robes, had appeared from nowhere on the path that they'd just come down.

"What the hell?!" Lucy yelled, clambering to her feet and rubbing her head. When Erza had pushed her out of the way of the knives, she'd bashed her head against a tree and it looked like it'd hurt a lot.

"It's a whole bunch of weirdos!" Happy cried, throwing his paws up in panic. His wings seemed to appear without him knowing about it.

Laxus just sighed again, and he turned to face the oncoming hoard. "Just go," he said, without turning around. Gray stared at him, the lightning illuminating him, then looked back at the advancing crowd of enemies. Laxus didn't look back at him.

"We'll handle the situation here," Erza nodded at him. She pointed at the temple with her sword, taking on a stern expression. She turned to face the ones coming from the trees. "I can handle these ones by myself. Go and settle things with Lyon!"

Gray stared at her, mind blanking again, then nodded one. Lucy smiled and nodded as well, taking her whip out. "We'll stay here and fight as well!" she agreed enthusiastically. Happy somehow pulled out a fish skeleton from somewhere and held it like a weapon.

"Aye!" he cried in agreement. Gray nodded again and he turned to the temple.

"Thanks, you guys," he said, unable to help the small smile.

"Yeah, yeah. Get going, popsicle! Enemies wait for no one!" Laxus shouted, lightning hitting the ground loudly around him, and Gray started running to the temple, heartbeat loud in his ears.

Once inside the temple, he made sure not to fall in the hole in the floor – he was pretty sure that was Natsu's fault it was there – and he ran beyond the opening room. Once in a strange tunnel, lit only by the occasional torch, he had to let instinct take over. It was mostly silent, save for the odd bat or rat here and there, and Gray just had to hope that he was running in the right direction.  _Please, Ur. Guide me_.

After what seemed like countless hours, although it couldn't have been more than half an hour, Gray eventually heard muffled voices coming up from up ahead. One of the voices he recognised immediately: Lyon. From the sounds of things, he was annoyed at something. There was the faint sound of something smashing. More smashing. More yelling from Lyon. Gray decided to quicken his pace until he was nearly running down the dark, crumbling hallway, kicking up dust and debris. As he turned a corner, his eyes were drawn to a wall of ice on one side, and he heard an explosion on the other side of it. It was followed by who sounded like Natsu yelling. Gray couldn't make out words, though.

Gray put his hands on the ice and within a moment, it started to crack open, making an opening for him to get through. Another moment passed, and the entire sheet around what Gray realised had used to be the door vanished, and he stepped inside. Lyon was standing on one side of an ice-covered throne room, looking furiously frazzled and ready to throw various ice creations at him. On the other side was Natsu, looking pretty relaxed about the whole thing, if a bit miffed at Lyon and surprised to see Gray there.

"Oh, it's Gray," Natsu said casually, lowering his hands. The flame that had been around his hands fizzled out. Gray glanced between the two of them before walking forwards into the room.

"Leave him to me," he said to Natsu, nodding at Lyon. "I'll take him out." Natsu stared stonily at him, not budging an inch.

"You already had one chance at him and you lost pretty badly, snowflake," Natsu said flatly, crossing his arms.

"There won't be any more chances after this," Gray told him, ignoring Lyon in the background. "This is the final showdown." In the corner of his eye, he could see Lyon smirking.

"You seem very confident in that," Lyon remarked coolly, and Gray finally turned to face him.

"You were right, Lyon." Gray said, looking down at the floor for a second. "Ten years ago, I was to blame for our master's death. But today, you've put your own people in danger, ordered the murders of both the villagers on this island and my friends, and you're trying to melt the ice!" Gray's face hardened into a scowl. "I won't see that happen!" Quickly, he crossed his arms out in front of him, dropping down into a stance that was very familiar to both him and Lyon. "It's time we accept our punishment, together."

Lyon's eyes widened as he took in what Gray was doing. "That stance!" he shouted, taking what looked like an involuntary step back. "That's the iced shell!"

"Iced shell?" Natsu repeated from the side, and Gray could see the inquisitive look on his face out of the corner of his eye. His expression suddenly took on a look of horror.

"Are you insane?! You wouldn't dare!" Lyon yelled at Gray, eyes still wider than normal. Gray didn't move.

"Change the villagers back to their human forms, and then leave this island and never return," Gray said calmly. Something shifted in Lyon's face, and he calmed down, even smiling a bit. "If you agree to that, then I'll stop." Magic circles appeared underneath his feet, and Gray continued, "If not, then this is the end."

"That so?" Lyon asked, his cocky attitude back in place again. He tilted his head slightly. "Well, I don't believe a word of it. You're bluffing."

In response, Gray simply wordlessly activated the spell, and the magic began flying around him in a vicious whirlwind of ice and snow. "No, I'm not," he replied darkly.

"You'll die!" Lyon shouted, conjuring up an ice make and throwing it at the ice surrounding Gray. However, he just got thrown backwards by the force of the magic. In his peripheral, Gray saw Natsu move forward towards him, no snow or ice touching him. It was as though he was surrounded by his own personal bubble of clear, heated air.

"Don't do it, you idiot!" he yelled loudly, putting a hand to his mouth to increase the volume of his voice. Not that he needed to do that. Gray ignored him and focused on his task at hand.

"It's time I took responsibility," he said, watching Lyon. Lyon seemed transfixed by that point, hair flying around from the force of the wind and magic. "I'm not afraid to die."

"Stop this, now!"

"What's it gonna be, Lyon?! Are we gonna die? It's up to you, now!"

"You wouldn't dare! You're not brave enough to give your life!" Lyon shouted over the winds, smirking even in the face of death. Typical. "You're nothing but a coward!"

Gray glanced at the ground before looking at him again. "Just watch me," he said quietly. He barely registered Natsu's shout, and he closed his eyes for a moment, silently apologising to his friends in Fairy Tail for leaving them.

_I'm sorry_.

" ** _Iced sh_** –" Gray began to fully activate the spell, but before he could finish saying the words, a hard punch to the face sent him flying backwards, breaking the flow of magic. Gray blearily looked up, rubbing his cheek where the fist had landed, and he saw Natsu standing a few feet away, fists clenched to the point where his arms were shaking. Gray took one look at his face, and he was taken aback. He'd never seen Natsu look so furious before; he was literally breathing smoke out of his nostrils, like the dragon he was, and his eyes were narrowed into dangerous dark slits.

So this was Natsu when he was angry. It was kind of disturbing, Gray thought distantly as he rubbed his cheek.

"What the hell, Natsu?!" he yelled anyway, not entirely sure it was a good idea whilst Natsu was so furious. Natsu let out a growl, and that startled him as well, because what the hell. Was that a dragon slayer thing? Or a demon thing?

" ** _You can't just burst in here, take someone else's fight and attempt to kill yourself to prove a point!_** " Natsu said darkly, a hint of a growl coming through. Gray stood up, marching back over and glaring at him.

"I have a score to settle with him!" he said back with just as much venom, "And I'm ready to die if that's what it takes!"

Natsu grabbed a hold of Gray's wrist, the one he'd been using to point, and was grasping it to the point of pain. He was glaring again, and it only made his already overheated skin feel like torture on Gray's perpetually cold skin. "Oh yeah?" Natsu hissed out, squeezing tighter, and Gray tried to yank his wrist back as pain flared up. "And what's dying gonna do?  ** _Because it sounds to me like you're just running away_**."

Gray froze, staring at him, and Natsu dropped his wrist, suddenly looking aware of what he'd done. Before they could exchange any other words, though, there was a harsh shaking coming from beneath the floor that felt like an earthquake, and Natsu looked down at the ground suspiciously.

"What now?" he complained, and Gray had to agree with him. It was then that a short man in a large mask appeared, running through the doorway that Gray had created in the ice.

"Pardon the interruption," he said, running up to Lyon, hands in his pockets. Natsu's face suddenly twisted in a half scowl, half grimace. It was an odd combination of expressions.

"Ah, Zalty," Lyon greeted the man, nodding at him. "I take it you did this?"

"Indeed I did, sir," Zalty confirmed. "The moon will be out soon, so I took the liberty of straightening the temple for you."

Natsu's face didn't change. "And after I went to all that trouble to mess this place up, too," he said, sounding far too calm for Gray's liking. Zalty ran out of the makeshift door again, stating that he was going to prepare for the Moon Drip ceremony, and Natsu started walking after him. "I'm going to sort that jerk out," he said, glancing over his shoulder at Gray, eyes still dark with residual rage. "I'll leave you to sort out this ice clown."

Gray froze again, then nodded once.

Natsu turned, but then said, "Oh, and Gray? Don't lose again. It'll look bad if you do."

"Yeah, I know," Gray sighed. Everyone knew that losing to the same opponent twice was a bad thing. And nobody took it more seriously than Fairy Tail.

"And not just for you," Natsu added, and Gray turned to look at him, but he just caught the tail end of a large flame disappearing into thin air, leaving the smell of burning behind.

* * *

Natsu appeared before Deliora, and he took a moment to stare up at the large demon in thought. Tonight, it would be decided whether or not he would remain encased in ice forever, or whether or not he would be freed. Whichever happened, though, it didn't really matter to Natsu. Deliora wouldn't be leaving this underground cavern alive.

Natsu looked up as he caught a whiff of the scent he'd come down to find, and he turned around, waiting for them to show up. A minute, two minutes later, the short man Lyon had been calling Zalty appeared from another passage, bustling around the rocks and getting closer. Natsu watched for a moment, then he decided to reveal himself. He'd never done well with waiting games. Both Igneel and Zeref had pointed that out to him when he was younger.

"So, Ultear," he said calmly, walking up behind the shorter figure, as though he'd just materialised. 'Zalty', or Ultear, jumped and spun around, and Natsu could sense the shock radiating from them. "What's a councilwoman like you doing with a demon like that?" He gestured up towards the frozen Deliora casually.

'Zalty' stared at him for a moment, as though debating something, then slowly reached up and removed the mask. All at once, the person transformed into a taller young woman, one with dark hair, red lipstick and eyes that Natsu didn't trust. Ultear smiled coolly at him and said, "Hello, Natsu-kun."


	17. Chapter 17

As soon as Gray had vanished from sight, running towards the crumbling ruin of a temple, Lucy turned to face the oncoming crowd of apparent Lyon-zealots. Erza steeled her expression and immediately charged forwards, sword at the ready, and slashed her way through them, sending them flying around her. Somewhere to their right, Laxus was striking down any of them that dared come near him or cross a threshold that he'd set up in his mind, not moving a muscle besides his facial ones. He was doing a lot of scowling.

Lucy gripped her whip tighter for a second, then ran forward as well. She thought about the demon underground, and she shook her head. It wasn't the time to be thinking about Deliora, or anything that could happen with that monster… A group of masked zealots rushed out at her, and Lucy let out a yell, brandishing her whip at them and scattering them around her. To her left, Happy was throwing food at them. Rotten food, it seemed. Lucy grimaced. Whatever worked to deter them.

She had no idea how long that went on for, repeating the motions of taking out several at a time. She was tired, still recovering from her fight with Pinkie and the Rock, and there seemed to be a constant new crowd to take the place of the ones knocked down. Even with three of them taking out a bunch at a time, though, crowds still kept appearing from nowhere, and Lucy, Erza and Laxus ended up staring down what felt like a small army.

"There's no end to them," Lucy said quietly, raising her whip and getting ready to strike again. Laxus stared at them, frowning. He seemed to be doing that a lot, and Lucy wondered if his face could even shift into any other expression.

"Notice anything strange, Lucy?" Erza asked, expression strange. Lucy blinked, then stared around at the enemies surrounding them. Despite the large amount of people around them, there was only a small amount of magic power for the people there. Lucy frowned as well. Odd.

"Now that you mention it," Lucy began, still staring at them, "even though there's a bunch of them, their magic seems weak, for some reason."

"Exactly," Laxus grunted, striking down someone who he apparently deemed too close to him. "There are only five wizards amongst them." He snorted. "And weak ones at that."

Happy flew by, wielding his fish skeleton like a sword again. "Oh man," he said faux-sympathetically, making a shrugging motion. "Guess this means I'm gonna have to go easy on them!" Lucy turned and gave him a look.

"Just keep telling yourself that," she said flatly. Happy ignored her.

"Can you handle this one?" Erza asked, giving her a glance over her shoulder. Laxus snorted but said nothing, and Lucy ignored him, smiling at Erza instead.

"Yeah!" she answered enthusiastically, already taking out a golden key. She held it out in front of her and shouted, " ** _Open! Gate of the Giant Crab: Cancer!_** " From the golden light, Cancer appeared, scissors in hand and ready to fight someone. Or fix someone's hair. He could do both at once.

Erza and Laxus stared at him. "We've met before, haven't we?" she asked, looking quizzical, and Cancer immediately got down on one knee, producing a bouquet of flowers from somewhere. Laxus stared at the bouquet with a haunted expression, looking like he was reliving traumatic memories.

"I believe we have," Cancer said, looking down at the ground and presenting Erza the flowers, "And as always, I am at your service, miss."

Lucy's eye twitched for a second, then she snapped. "I THOUGHT YOU ALWAYS SAID BABY! WHAT'S WITH MISS?!  _AND YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE AT MY SERVICE!_ "

Happy popped up next to her, evil grin in place. "I think someone's jealous," he said happily, grinning away. Lucy turned her head to glare at him.

"Shut it, cat!" she snapped, before turning back to Cancer. "Take 'em down!" she commanded, pointing at the crowd of confused looking enemies, who had just been watching the entire exchange. "But don't kill them. Just rough them up, okay?" Cancer stared at them, the setting sun glinting on his sunglasses.

"Alright, baby," he nodded, snapping his scissors. "I'll get this." With that, he charged into the crowd, scissors out and stylist head on. Lucy and the others just watched in fascination as he worked.

* * *

Gray stared across at Lyon, fists clenched, as the flame transporting Natsu wherever-the-hell he was going disappeared. Somehow, the smell of burning in a room covered entirely by ice felt odd to Gray – the two elements didn't exactly mix together on the best of days. Lyon flicked his eyes between where Natsu had been standing and over to Gray, the beginnings of a smirk in place. He seemed to be taking nearly being frozen in ice pretty well, all things considered.

"My, my," he said lightly, brushing invisible shards of ice off his robes. "What a boisterous pair you are."

Gray's face remained impassive. "Tell me something," he said quietly, watching Lyon's face for any changes – a flicker, a smirk, anything. "When I was gonna freeze us both for good a second ago… you were counting on Natsu to stop me before I could finish, right?" Lyon folded his arms, looking haughty.

"No," he replied, quite calmly. "The opposite, in fact." He rolled his eyes. "I never thought he'd be foolish enough to come near a spell like that." Gray inwardly snorted. As if a spell like iced shell would stop Natsu when he wanted to do something.

"So you were just gonna stand there and take the hit?" he pressed, and Lyon rolled his eyes again.

"Exactly," Lyon nodded. "Because someone would come to rescue me. You, on the other hand, would be finished for good."

Gray froze, mind whirring. Of course that had been why Lyon hadn't fought back against it. Why hadn't he realised that sooner? "I should have known," Gray said lowly, narrowing his eyes in annoyance, both at Lyon and himself.

Lyon made a humming sound. "While it would be inconvenient to be sealed in ice, my allies are as devoted to my cause as I am." He smiled at Gray, all teeth and no warmth. "And since we're on this island, they can use the Moon Drip to melt the ice whenever they saw fit." Gray narrowed his eyes again, staring at the ground. Things made more sense, now that Lyon had explained it. Of course he'd planned for even this setback.

"I didn't think of that," he admitted, feeling a sick shame in doing so. "Guess the iced shell is completely useless here."

Lyon stared at him. "Even so, you still want to fight?" he asked, a hint of curiosity leaking into his tone. At least that showed he still had emotions. Gray didn't know whether that was a good thing or not. "After what happened last time?" Lyon smiled again, for a record second time, and began to say, "Don't fool yourself, you – "

"I've had enough," Gray interrupted, and Lyon unfolded his arms, looking shocked that Gray had spoken over him. "Just forget about Deliora."

"What kind of nonsense is this?!" Lyon demanded, starting to look angry. "Your threats don't work, so you turn to begging?!" He gave Gray another haughty look. "Does your guild have a medic that removes your fangs and spine? Or are you just a snivelling coward?"

Gray ignored the insults to his guild, although they sent a sharp jolt of anger through his gut. "Lyon, there's something I have to tell you," he said quietly. Against everything, Gray hoped that Ur would forgive him for breaking this promise. The promise she made him make as she left their world.

"What is it?!" Lyon demanded, definitely getting angry with Gray if his tone was anything to go by. Gray braced himself for the fallout, for breaking the promise he'd kept for all those years.

"Ur is still alive," he replied, loud and clear as the heartbeat inside his chest. Lyon stared at him, face blank as he digested that sentence. "The iced shell doesn't kill its caster. It uses their body to form the barrier." Gray paused as memories caught up to him again, and he swallowed. "The ice that's been keeping Deliora sealed away, what you've been trying to melt… is actually Master Ur." Lyon was still staring at him, silent, and Gray took it as his cue to continue. "She isn't dead. She lives on as that ice."

Lyon still hadn't said anything, and Gray sighed. "I'm sorry that I never told you the truth back then. Ur made me promise to never say anything."

"Of course," Lyon said quietly, not having moved a muscle otherwise. Gray clenched his jaw.

"It's over," Gray told him, his heart still beating erratically. "There's no reason to go through with this anymore." The entire time Gray had been talking, Lyon had been slowly walking closer to him, and the moment he quietened, Lyon's hand lit up with their signature ice magic. Gray had failed to notice until that moment that Lyon's hand was right against his abdomen, and when his hand was covered in the ice magic, the ice pierced his torso like a needle through paper. Gray let out a silent, wordless gasp of pain. A magic circle appeared in front of him, and behind him, he heard a tiger roar.

With the combined added weight of the ice tiger on his back and the pain of the fresh wound going right through his torso, Gray collapsed to his knees, heaving. He felt like he was going to vomit.

"You idiot," Lyon said disdainfully, looking down at him with a curled lip. "I know how the spell works." He smiled cruelly, and his features became twisted and ugly. "I can assure you, that ice has long ceased to be Ur. That's nothing more than a chunk of frozen waste water!"

Gray struggled to lift himself up, feeling anger rise in his chest. " _You… knew… all along?_ " he asked, gasping through the burning pain.

"Knowing is one thing," Lyon answered coolly, "Believing is another." He started walking towards Gray, where he was sprawled on the ground, too agonised to move. "And if you truly believe that Ur is alive in there, then you really need to grow up, Gray!"

Gray managed to push himself up slightly, shaking from rage. "You knew the truth… and you still did this?!" he demanded, glaring at his former friend with every ounce of hatred he could muster.

"And what of it?" Lyon asked, raising an eyebrow. Gray managed to pull himself to his feet, using his anger as energy and a painkiller to numb the pain that was radiating from the hole in his torso. Gray took one look at the smug look on Lyon's face, and he just punched him as hard as he could across the room. The noise that was made when Lyon impacted with the ice wall was probably the most satisfying sound Gray had ever heard.

Lyon looked stunned as he picked himself up, a cut already forming across his face. "Impossible!" he shouted in anger. "You shouldn't be able to move with that wound!"

Gray braced himself, holding himself ready to fight. "I've had enough," he growled out. "I was hoping to save your life, Lyon, but I've reached my limit with you!" He put his hands up in front of him and said, " ** _Ice make: bow! Ice: make: arrow!_** " Almost instantly, his ice magic moulded into a shortbow and arrow, and he pointed it at Lyon, lining up the shot, and fired it.

The arrow pierced Lyon right on his strange armour, sending him flying backwards into the wall with a strangled, " _Gah!_ " As the combination of dust, snow and ice cleared, Lyon stared up at Gray with an angered expression, blood dripping down his face from a fresh cut across his eye. He opened his mouth to say something, probably to retaliate with one of his dynamic ice creations, but Gray had had enough. He rushed forward, his anger fuelling him, and kicked him in the mouth, stopping any words from getting out, and sent him flying backwards once again.

He rushed forward to where Lyon was lying again, and kicked him in the side, taking a sick pleasure in the way his foot impacted with Lyon's side. Feeling some vengeance for the way the villagers had lost their home, and nearly their lives, in this sick mess that Lyon had created for them, and vengeance for he and his friends for the fact that they were the ones having to clean up Lyon's mistakes. Anger still pulsing through him, Gray reared back and punched Lyon in the face, sending him flying to the ground once again.

For a moment, Lyon simply lay there, breathing heavy and ragged. Then, he struggled to his feet. "He can't do this to me!" he gasped out, staring at the ground, hair drooping over his eyes. "I can't let someone as weak as Gray defeat me!" He shot Gray a look of absolute loathing, and shouted, "I can't let that happen!" Magic began to gather around his hands, and a magic circle appeared before them, and he shouted, " ** _Ice make: snow dragon!_** "

Gray could only watch as the giant ice creation hurtled towards him and grabbed hold of him, holding him high in the air for a moment. With an annoyed grunt, Gray brought his forearm down on the dragon's neck and smashed it to pieces, allowing him to fall back to the ground. Once back safely on the ground, Gray rolled safely to the wall, leaning against it and putting a hand to the wound on his torso. The pain was starting to get worse with time, even with his anger acting as a temporary painkiller.

"You see, Gray?" Lyon asked, breathing heavily as he stared at him, eyes wide with delusions of grandeur. He was shaking, whether from exertion, injury or madness, Gray didn't know, and he smiled widely. "This duel was pointless from the start! Deliora will be revived, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

Gray clenched his fist on the ground. Granules of dirt came up with his fingers, wet from the ice that had been encased over it. "I won't stop trying!" he vowed, standing again.

Lyon smiled even wider. "You can try all you want, but Zalty is preparing to start the Moon Drip Ceremony as we speak."

Gray grinned that time, ignoring the pain. "Natsu won't let him," he said, gasping slightly, but bringing the smile back. "Never underestimate him. The second you do is the second you lose."

* * *

"Hello, Natsu-kun."

Natsu stared at Ultear for a long moment, analysing the situation quickly. Behind the red lipstick and perfect hairdo – even one as casual as the one she currently wore – Ultear was still a formidable opponent, both with fighting and with mind games. He'd seen her enough at ERA, whenever he'd gone with Master Makarov to see the council members, to know that. The last time he'd ran into her, she'd been with Siegrain, that annoyingly smug, blue-haired bastard she always seemed to be hanging over. Then again, Natsu hadn't really been focused on her that day. He'd more been trying to keep the peace between his guild and the council, again, as Cana had decided to charge twenty barrels of ale directly to the high council on one of her nights out.

Sometimes Natsu wondered why he'd been deemed one of the responsible ones. Maybe he should start causing more destruction… Shaking his head before his thoughts could go off on a tangent, he nodded one to Ultear.

"Ultear," he greeted coolly, taking a single step forward. Ultear smiled slightly wider, almost missed in the relative darkness of the cavern.

"I had wondered if I was going to run into you here, Natsu-kun," she said idly, leaning on a rock and jutting her hip out. "It's nice to know that I was right. Then again, I usually am."

Natsu glanced behind him at Deliora, frozen in ice still and looming over them both like a beacon of doom. It wasn't a pleasant sight to behold, even to Natsu, who had seen his fair share of unpleasant sights. "So what's with the crossdressing act?" he asked, still glancing at Deliora. He looked back at Ultear and asked, "Was Siegrain getting  _Zalty_  with you?"

Ultear laughed, sounding a bit startled at the unexpected joke, before calming down. Continuing in her signature calm voice, "Lyon's been fun to play with," she said, smiling. Her eyes held little warmth beyond amusement. "He thinks he can fight Deliora and win. I've simply been indulging him for a few weeks."

Natsu walked forward another few steps so that he was standing in front of her again. His expression remained impassive. "I understand Lyon's crazy plan, but I don't get what you're getting out of this."

Ultear smiled again, that one smile that made it seem like she had the answer to life and death in her hands and no one else was allowed to know. It never failed to infuriate Natsu. "Lyon is free to fight Deliora, of course. That is, if he gets past your angry friend upstairs." She pointed upwards to the throne room, where Natsu could hear the sounds of a scuffle ensuring, and shouts and spells being cast. "But he's not strong enough to actually defeat him, even if he does fight him." Ultear's smile became slightly smugger, if that was even possible. "I just happen to know a spell that will bind Deliora's will to my own."

Natsu froze, his blood running cold. "You want this demon to control it?" he asked, and Ultear shifted, crossing her arms. "That's the stupidest thing I've heard all day, and I spent a while listening to the masked creep."

"With Deliora in our control, we will be able to protect our citizens far more effectively! Demons have untold powers at their advantage that humans don't!" Ultear said, her voice imploring. At the same time, the floor underneath Natsu's feet started to shift. Instinctively, he teleported a few feet away, and he glanced over to where he'd been standing – a giant hole was all that was left of the floor. Ultear was smiling. "My, my. You are quick on your feet, Natsu-kun," she praised, conjuring up a crystal ball from nowhere. It floated in the air beside her ominously.

"I don't care if Deliora would be used to guard the king himself," Natsu spat viciously, starting to get riled up the calmer Ultear stayed. Judging by the way she smiled, she knew that and enjoyed watching it. "That demon doesn't leave this island! Binding spells would never work on one of Zeref's demons, and I won't risk the country because you decided it was a good idea!"

"It was actually Siegrain's idea," Ultear corrected conversationally, throwing the crystal ball at him.

" ** _Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!_**  Of course it was!" Natsu snarled back. Of course Siegrain would come up with a scheme like that. Knowing him, Siegrain would probably think it was a good idea to use the Etherion cannon for one person. Siegrain was the dangerous mix of over-dramatic and powerfully idiotic. Throwing back a retaliatory fireball, Natsu increased the distance between them, leaping back a few feet, and said, "I'm sorry, Ultear, but I'm going to have to stop you."

Ultear chuckled slightly. "Is that so, Natsu-kun?" she asked. The smashed crystal ball reformed in her hand, and started floating next to her again. Natsu didn't question it. He'd already been expecting it. "Two forms of Lost Magic clashing beneath the beast Deliora, arguably a beast of Lost Magic itself…" She gave a wistful sigh. "What a sight to behold that will be."

Natsu opened his mouth to respond, but a purple glint in the corner of his eye caught his eye. He turned his head slightly, and he froze again. The same magic circles from the first night that they'd discovered Deliora were shining above the tomb of ice, shining the purple Moon Drip down onto the ice and melting it. "Crap," he muttered. A smash on the arm brought him out of his stunned stupor.

"Mind on the fight, Natsu-kun," Ultear reminded, ever-smiling and crystal ball flying between them, forming again. She spoke lightly, as though they were two friends discussing matters amicably over drinks, rather than two combatants engaged in a fight.

Natsu growled, fire forming in his hand, and he launched some at her, all the while thinking about the current situation. Even whilst Ultear was down in the cavern with him, the ceremony was still commencing. That had to mean that there were people up top doing the ceremony.

Ultear dodged the fire attack. "The Moon Drip you see is only being performed by one person, so it isn't especially powerful." Her lips twisted slightly. "However, a small nudge is all we need now to make the ice crack, and free Deliora, so it will suffice." As soon as she said that, a large chunk on top of the ice immediately shattered, and Natsu stared, horrified. With the way the ice was melting, it was inevitable that Deliora would be freed that night. However, he needed to get Ultear out of the cavern so he could take care of Deliora.

He sighed, putting his flaming fist down, and looked at the ground. "Is there no way I can get you to leave this island peacefully?" he asked quietly, already half-knowing what the answer would be. Ultear was nothing if not determined.

"I'm afraid not, Natsu-kun," Ultear replied pleasantly, crystal ball still orbiting her like she was its centre of gravity. Natsu sighed again, and ignited his fist.

"I see," he said, more to himself than to her. He looked at her, then shouted, leaping towards her, " ** _Fire dragon's Iron Fist!_** " He'd increased the heat of his body temperature and his flames, making them more powerful so that he wouldn't have to resort to his curses, mostly because he didn't doubt that Ultear would go snooping once she regained consciousness, and as his fist made contact with her jaw, she went flying. She landed in a crumpled heap several feet away from Natsu, not about to get up. Satisfied, Natsu turned back to the demon encased in ice.

The ice was still rapidly melting, and by the sounds coming from upstairs, it sounded as though his friends had discovered that there was someone else still performing the ceremony. He knew that he could, in all honesty, disrupt the ceremony, since Ultear had been removed from the picture, but there wasn't any point to it at the current stage. Either way, the ice was going to melt, and Deliora would be free. Natsu sighed, steeling himself. Not a lot could be done. He stared at Deliora, and he swore he saw those red eyes glint in recognition.

It was time to sort out this extended family mess. Distantly, he cursed his brother for leaving him to deal with this mess.


	18. Chapter 18

Erza stared at the masses of knocked out enemies surrounding them, sword hanging limply from her hand. Over in the corner, Laxus was casually cracking his knuckles, not having even broken a sweat, and Lucy was looking over at the temple with a frown. Night had long since fallen, and Lucy could understand why she might be worried. Whilst they had been fighting the endless onslaught, it seemed that the ceremony had been started by someone already on the roof. They had to hurry. Shaking herself, she turned to her companions.

"Excellent work," she praised, and Lucy seemed to literally glow like her magic. "Let's head over to the temple."

"Right," Lucy nodded, and Happy flew over to them, his fish-skeleton-sword long since discarded. Where, Erza declined to know. Laxus slowly ambled over, taking care not to tread on anyone that had been downed by his lightning. Erza thought that was simultaneously a careful thing to do and a douchey thing to do. Then again, it was Laxus she was staring at.

"No!" came a voice from behind them, and Erza turned, more sedately than Lucy's rapid spinning on the spot. An old woman had removed her mask, and seemed to be being supported by her son, who was also wearing the same garb as she. Erza frowned, staring at their features. "We won't let you interfere!" the woman insisted, her son nodding in agreement, his face set in a solid scowl.

"Those headpieces…" Erza said slowly, realisation coming to her. Of course, that was where she knew them from. "You people are from the city of Brago." She stared at their faces for another few seconds, ignoring the incredulous looks her comrades were giving her, even Laxus. "And you want revenge for what Deliora did."

The woman's face twisted into a scowl of hurt and anger. "Deliora destroyed our city. It killed our children." Her face twisted even more, and stray tears gathered in her eyes. "We have to destroy Deliora, to avenge our fallen. To avenge our families.  _The children that will never grow up!_ "

"I understand your pain," Erza replied, thinking back to her experiences at the Tower of Heaven, and quickly pushing them away with a flinch. Never again. "But bringing Deliora out of that ice won't avenge them. Deliora can't hurt anyone now." The woman and her son seemed to think on her words slightly, and Erza ploughed ahead. "If Deliora is freed, though, there's no telling what harm it could bring to others."

The old woman opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, there was a loud roaring sound coming from the temple. Erza staggered under the sheer weight of the sound, the ground shaking from the tremendous force. To the side, Lucy had fallen against a tree, and even Laxus looked uncharacteristically rattled, hands over his ears and grimacing from the noise.

"My ears aren't ready for this!" Happy yelled, paws around his head as he hovered around Lucy. Erza spun around, staring at the temple. She grimaced at the implications of the sound.

"This doesn't sound too promising," she said, gritting her teeth against the harsh sound.

* * *

Natsu fell to his knees, screeching in pain as Deliora let out a roar as loud as Hell itself. He felt as though his head was going to burst from the pain and pressure, even through the hands that covered his ears. His veins and blood were on fire, causing his brain to melt and limbs to fail. The longer it went on for, the louder he screamed, putting his head to the dirt to try and get some relief from the demon's damn roar. Natsu had been prepared to stand against Deliora, should the ice crack, but he had forgotten how  _loud_  Deliora was.

Unfortunately, he was paying the price for that lapse in memory.

" ** _Goddamnit, Zeref!_** " he roared, clutching his ears in agony, cursing his brother in every way he knew how to. If he saw his no-good, wayward big brother again –  _when_ , he grudgingly corrected – Zeref was so getting a punch, straight in his stupid smug face.

* * *

Gray looked around as the walls and floor that surrounded them started trembling. A low sound, sounding muffled and beneath the ground, could he heard faintly along with the trembling, and Gray frowned. "Why do I get the feeling that that isn't Natsu?" he asked out-loud, a bad feeling curling in the pit of his gut. He'd known Natsu to be destructive and loud before, but never to the scale of 'ancient-temple-shaking'.

Lyon let out a slightly maniacal laugh off to the side. "The ceremony is finally nearing completion," he informed Gray, all but beaming away like a smug idiot. "The ice that was once sealing Deliora has begun to melt away."

Gray stared at the walls in horror. Ur, he thought, images of his long-gone Master flashing behind his eyes. The thought that Lyon was so callous that he didn't care that Ur was melting filled him with rage again.

"There's nothing you can do. It's too late to stop me!" Lyon declared proudly, gesturing to himself as he did so. He made another gesture, and ice magic began swirling around him. "You and your friends have failed!" Gray stared at him, teeth bared in a scowl. "Do you know how I've dreamed of this day? Since we last saw each other, Gray, I've been learning. Gathering allies who'll aid me." His eyes narrowed, hiding some of the crazed glint. "It was by chance that I discovered this place – an island where you can collect the light of the moon, which was just what I needed!"

He motioned with his hand, and arrows went shooting towards Gray. Gray jumped to dodge them, and Lyon continued on with his monologue. "Of course, it wasn't an easy task, transporting Deliora from Brago to Galuna." More ice arrows, and Gray gritted his teeth as he flung himself to the side as well. "And then there was the issue of waiting three years for the Moon Drip!"

Gray quickly melded a barrier out of ice as more missiles came shooting towards him, and he shot Lyon a glare through the transparent surface. "You've been wasting your time with this for  _three years_?"

Lyon's eyes widened, and they took on a maddened look. " ** _Wasting time?!_** " he demanded, shaking slightly. "WHO ARE YOU TO SAY THAT?  ** _YOU'VE SPENT THE LAST TEN YEARS IN SOME FOOLISH GUILD PIDDLING YOUR LIFE AWAY!_** "

Gray jumped to the side as a giant missile came flying towards him, and he sent Lyon another pained look. A flash of anger had shot through him at the insult to his guild, and he sent Lyon a heated glare. "Because I put my faith in what Ur told me!" he retorted hotly, landing neatly. Lyon's eyes widened again, and Gray knew instantly that he was recalling Ur's words:  ** _in the Western countries, there are lots of wizards more powerful than me_**. "So I went West, and eventually made it to Fairy Tail. And she was right! The guild was so full of powerful wizards that I couldn't believe it!" Gray thought of Master Makarov, Gildarts, Mirajane with her Satan Soul, Erza, and, though he was loathe to admit it, Natsu. "When I first got there, I asked the Master if he knew a way to undo the iced shell, and he said that he didn't, that any attempt would be tantamount to killing Ur." Gray looked away for a second, caught up in memories. "I didn't know it at the time, but I bet the old man was thinking about the Moon Drip when he said that."

He refocused his gaze on Lyon, eyes hardening. "After  _everything_  that Ur did for us, you'd kill her without a second thought." It wasn't a question. "You're a crap excuse for a human being."

"Say what you will, I don't care," Lyon replied, smiling like it was nothing. "I've been living for this day!" He suddenly lunged forward with a frenzied look in his eyes. "Ur is long dead, and if we want to prove that we have surpassed her, then what better way than to defeat Deliora!" Lyon started flinging more ice missiles towards Gray, and Gray leapt to dodge them again, growling. "Think about it!  _If I can bury Deliora, the one thing to defeat our Master, then I'll have finally surpassed her!_ "

"While that's pretty ambitious," Gray snarled, dodging incoming blows from Lyon's now-ice covered fist. "But I think you mighta missed the point somewhere along the way!" Quickly summoning an ice sword, he smashed Lyon's ice gloves into pieces. The look of complete disbelief on Lyon's face was everything. "Someone as blind as you could never be better than Ur! Not now, and not ever!"

Without really thinking, Gray sliced between them with the sword, fully intent on ending their battle there and then. To his surprise, though, Lyon instantly fractured and shattered, and Gray stared. One of Lyon's ice decoys. Of course. He heard Lyon advancing from behind before he turned around.

" ** _Ice make: snow tiger!_** "

Gray turned in time to see a giant tiger made of snow and ice leap into existence, and he stared at it as it approached, sword hanging loosely at his side. As it was right above him, he leapt up above it, and yelled out, " ** _Ice make: prison!_** " As quickly as the snow tiger had appeared, a giant cage of solid ice appeared around the tiger, and Gray landed on top of it, staring down at Lyon impassively.

"You see this, Lyon?" he asked, gesturing downwards to the tiger fighting to escape the cage. "This is what you are. A wild beast who knows nothing of the world!"

Lyon's face contorted into rage. "Utter nonsense! I'll make quick work of that spell of yours!" He started gesturing with his fingers towards the imprisoned tiger, causing the tiger to go wild, smashing itself against the bars. To Lyon's apparent shock and disbelief, though, the bars didn't budge, let alone break.

Gray leapt down from the top of the cage, landing neatly in the middle of it and Lyon. "Single-handed spellcasting is too unbalanced!" he said coldly, not moving for a moment and just observing Lyon. "That's why it's bound to fail you at critical times. It doesn't have the power it needs to be stable!" Smashing his hands together, a swirl of magic started forming around him, and Gray shouted, " ** _Ice cannon!_** "" Immediately, the cannon fired towards Lyon, who stood there screaming. The following blast told Gray that the ice missile he'd used in the cannon had gone through the wall. Well, it wouldn't be a Fairy Tail mission without the wrecking of an ancient temple.

The dust cleared, revealing Lyon in a sorry state of disrepair and looking dead on his feet. If the way his eyes were blanking out and the way his jaw was hanging halfway towards the ground, Gray guessed he was going to topple over at any given moment. "Ur taught us that, remember?" he finished, releasing a breath that he hadn't realised he'd been holding. Lyon continued to tremble on the spot, before finally managing to gasp out a shaky, " _Gray…_ " and keeling over.

Gray relaxed his stance, breathing more easily now that Lyon was finally down for the count. As his muscles in his torso relaxed and the adrenaline started to ebb away with his anger, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Oh yeah, that was right. He'd taken one of Lyon's ice creations straight through the torso, which wasn't generally recommended. Quickly, he put a hand to the wound and ice immediately started flowing over it, sealing it up and acting as a more permanent ice pack in one fell swoop. "Man, I should have sealed this up earlier," he muttered to himself. So much for being smarter than flames for brains.

There was a rustle of leaves from outside, where the ice cannon had made the hole in the wall, and Gray turned to look at it. A second later, he heard it. The all-encompassing sound of a demonic roar, so loud that it sent the hairs on the back of Gray's neck on edge and his ears on fire. The roar shook the ceiling, the ground and the walls, and he looked around in horror. He'd recognise that roar anywhere; it had haunted his dreams for the last ten years, after all.

"That sound…" he said slowly, staring up at the ceiling. Unbidden, memories of Brago flashed before his eyes, of Ur giving up her life so he could live. "I can never forget that sound." He clenched his fist tightly, whether from anger or anxiety, Gray didn't know.

"Deliora," Lyon whispered from the ground, confirming Gray's thoughts.

"They did it," Gray said, slightly bewildered as his thoughts caught up with him. "They actually revived it." Gray steeled himself, and looked towards the door of the destroyed throne room.  _There's only one thing I can do now._

* * *

Lucy stared around in fear, at the broken temple walls that surrounded them and at the bits of dirt and dust flying off them as the roar and trembling didn't stop. "What the heck was that noise?!" she asked, voice going squeaky from fear. Somewhere to the left, Laxus was looking around, looking pained by the noise. "It sounded like some kinda monster!"

"It's probably just your stomach, Lucy!" Happy informed her cheerfully, arms together like he was some kind of goddamned peace-loving monk. Like that cat had ever loved peace in his life. Happy lived to make Lucy's life some sort of weird Hell.

"You know, you're not half as funny as you think you are," Lucy said flatly, giving him a sideways glare.

"That's what I've been saying for years," Laxus threw in from the side, going ever-so slightly green as the temple swayed and trembled again. Happy's wings appeared again and he flew over to Laxus, and Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn't going to be tormented by a devil cat anytime soon.

"You're just sore about the boulder incident," Happy said, smiling away serenely. Lucy had no idea what the 'boulder incident' was, but judging by the way that Laxus's face tightened, he had a very good idea as to what Happy was talking about.

Instead of gracing Happy with a reply, though, he just turned away with a light, " _Tch_."

"Do you think that sound might have been Deliora?" Erza asked, abruptly bringing them back down to Earth. Of course, Lucy remembered. They were in a temple because of a giant demon encased in ice. Although judging from the sounds of things, Deliora was no longer so encased in ice, and that spelled bad news for the rest of them. Lucy wasn't about to pin her hopes on some guy that called himself the  _Cold Emperor_ to defeat a demon of Zeref.

"You mean…  _they brought it back to life?!_ " Lucy shrieked, hands on her face as she thought about all of the possible ramifications. Oh gods, she was never getting off this island alive. She was never going to see the rest of the guid again, or go on any more job requests again.  _She was never going to get a boyfriend and she was going to die_ _ **single**_ **.**

"Technically, it was never dead," Laxus pointed out from the side, arms back to being crossed over his chest. Lucy snapped her head around to glare at him.

" _No one asked you!_ " she snapped, forgetting for a moment that she was yelling at Laxus Dreyar, S-Class wizard with a short-fuse for a temper. Laxus ignored her, in any case. A flash of purple caught her eye, and she turned her head. In the centre of the temple were purple circles, like the ones they'd seen the first night they'd discovered Deliora. Lucy froze.

"See that purple light?" Happy asked, gesturing towards it with one paw and a serious expression. "That's the Moon Drip!"

Laxus stared up at the light, frowning. "We took out all of the minions outside, though," he said slowly, as though he was going over everything that might possibly make sense in his mind as he talked.

"While that's true, there's still someone up there performing the Moon Drip," Erza said, her tone like solidified steel. "Which means that they haven't fully revived it yet – "

"Which means we have a chance to stop it," Laxus finished, eyes shining with understanding. He clenched his fists and steeled his gaze, which was more than slightly intimidating. "We can leave the 'how's and 'why's until later. Right now, we need to stop an idiot from reviving a demon."

With that, he and Erza took off running towards the stairs that led to the roof of the temple, where they'd seen the ceremony being performed before. Lucy stared after them for a moment, dumbfounded, before her brain caught up with her, and she pointed at the ground. "Deliora's  _below_  us!" she pointed out, and Laxus shot her an irritated look over his shoulder.

"Weren't you listening, Blondie?" he snapped, lightning crackling dangerously around him for a brief second. In that brief second, the area around him was lit up in a pure white glow. "We're stopping the  _ceremony!_ "

Erza glanced back at her as well, and shouted, "Come on! We've got to hurry!"

Lucy paused for a moment, unsure of what to do, because if the sound they'd heard before was Deliora, would stopping the ceremony be enough now? If he was far enough out to be roaring away into the good night (or, in Deliora's case, the good, dark cavern),  _could_  the ceremony be stopped? She shook her head and let out a breath, and decided to think on all that later, and quickly hurried after her comrades, Happy hot on her trail. They had a demon to stop.

It didn't take them long to reach the top of the temple, not when they were all running at breakneck speeds. Lucy was admittedly out of breath by the time she got there, and she hang onto a stray bit of broken wall whilst Laxus strolled up to the guy with dog ears –  _seriously_ , Lucy thought to herself,  _of all the people to be left standing_  – and tapped him on the shoulder. Apparently, Laxus and Dog Ears had met before, because Dog Ears took one look at Laxus, instantly paled, and let out a loud shriek. Laxus waved a hand nonchalantly, and a stray lightning bolt struck him on the head, and Dog Ears fell to the ground, very thoroughly unconscious.

It was all rather anticlimactic, in Lucy's opinion. Pushing that thought away, she turned with the others to the purple magic circles. "So the Moon Drip should stop any minute now?" she asked, staring at the magic circles. Laxus grunted, cracking his knuckles and looking like he wanted to fight the magic circles. Almost like it heard them, the magic circles started to decrease in size before vanishing completely, leaving no trace of the behind. Erza continued to stare at where they had been, a dark look on her face that Lucy didn't like.

"So this guy was doing it all by himself?" Happy asked, looking at the fallen Dog Ears. Laxus made a snorting sound but said nothing otherwise.

Dog Ears suddenly turned onto his back and spat out, "Too late! It's over! The ceremony's already been completed!"

Lucy gasped, eyes widening in horror, and as if on cue, a bright green light suddenly shot out of the centre of the temple, where the purple magic circles had been previously. Lucy covered her eyes with her arm, flinching against the brightness of it. There was another roar, this one louder than the last, and she lowered her arm, heart beating erratically in her chest. "Oh no," she murmured.

So they'd failed. Deliora was revived.

* * *

Natsu forced himself to stand, growling as the force of Deliora's roars were close to knocking him off his feet, and also driving him insane with the pain in his ears. In the corner of the cavern, Ultear still hadn't moved a muscle. That was good, he thought. He didn't need her getting in the way of things if they turned ugly, which, knowing Deliora, could very easily happen. Hell, all Deliora had done since waking up was roar. Natsu wrinkled his nose. To think, Deliora was technically an Etherious as well… it made him sick.

That thought sobered him up quickly. Like with Lullaby, Deliora was his responsibility to deal with. Thinking of the pain that Gray had gone through because of this beast before him, Natsu felt a pang of guilt in his chest.

"I might not be responsible for killing his family," he murmured to himself, clenching his fists. Unbidden, black, web-like markings appeared on his right biceps, with another marking appearing on the opposite arm like a long glove. At the same time, a black, mask-like marking had also appeared over his eyes. "But  _I'm_  the reason why you were created, and that means I have to take you out." His eyes narrowed at the demon before him. A noise from behind him alerted him to someone else's presence, and he sniffed the air.

So Gray had managed to get passed the psycho masked freak. Natsu gave Deliora another fleeting look and immediately bounded over to Gray, leaping onto a rock just because he could. "Hey!" he shouted down from his rock, staring down at Gray. "What're you doing here?"

"Natsu?" Gray asked, looking simultaneously shocked and relieved to see him. The thought almost made Natsu laugh. To think there would be a day when the ice princess would be glad to see him. Gray paused, and stared at Natsu's arms. "What's up with your arms?" he asked, sounding almost concerned. "And your face?"

Natsu glanced down at his arms, and he cursed his lack of control. "Oh, nothing," he said airily, waving a hand in what he hoped was reassurance. "Just a demon thing." He managed to force the markings back under control and out of sight, and his face hardened again. "Listen, there's only one thing we can do now. I'm gonna take out Deliora here and now."

Gray's eyes widened, but before he could say anything, they were both distracted by Lyon, dragging himself in the dirt. "No," he said, still sounding as manic as he did in the throne room. Clearly his beating hadn't knocked any sense into him. "Neither one of you are strong enough! But I will defeat it!"

Gray stared down at him, and there was something almost sympathetic in his eyes. "Lyon..." he sighed, sounding tired.

"I'm going to surpass Ur!  _Finally!_ " Lyon said, smile in place and eyes wide. Deliora roared again, and Lyon looked up at it. "I've waited so long for this moment! Ur was strong, but still not strong enough to kill that demon!" Lyon shakily struggled to his feet, teetering on the edge of falling over again. "I'm going to do the one thing Ur never could!" He spread his arms wide. "Finally, my dream will be fulfilled!"

Before he could say anything else, Gray hit him across the back, and Lyon went sprawling to the floor once again. From the looks of things, and from the sounds of his breathing, he wasn't getting back up for the fight. "You've caused enough trouble," Gray said bitterly, and Natsu couldn't agree more. Slowly, Gray turned and started walking towards Deliora. "I'll clean up the mess you've made."

Natsu watched, horrified, as Gray took on the now-familiar stance of iced shell, a look of pure steel in his gaze as he stared up at Deliora. Before Natsu could even move to stop him, Gray yelled out, " ** _Iced shell!_** "

Lyon had apparently woken up, but Natsu paid no attention to his and Gray's exchange, and instead thought about what to do. Drawing up a blank, Natsu slowly moved towards Deliora as well, and moved to stand in front of Gray and the iced shell spell. In any other situation, the look of shock on Gray's face would have been laughable.

"Natsu!" Gray yelled, shocked out of his cool. Natsu gave him a levelling look.

"I told you," he said darkly, "to let me handle this."

"Don't be stupid! Just get out of my way!"

Natsu glared at him. "If I didn't let you do it before, why would I let you do it now?" Before Gray could answer him, Natsu punched through the spell and sent Gray flying backwards a few feet. Satisfied that Gray had been dealt with for at least a little while, he turned back to face Deliora. "I'm not gonna let you go out like that.  _Not when I'm the one who should die for Deliora's sins_." He said the last part softly, so that no one else would hear him, and he glared up at Deliora. "Come and fight me," he murmured.

As if on cue, as if he'd heard their discussion – which wouldn't surprise Natsu in the slightest – Deliora suddenly swung into action, gigantic fist clenched and ready to smash whoever it hit into pieces. Natsu glared up, and fire erupted around his fist. Without thinking about it, he leapt up to meet the fist in mid-air, shouting, " ** _Fire Dragon's Retribution!_** " Distantly, he could hear Gray screaming his name, but he ignored it as his fist came into contact with Deliora's.

The resultant blast was blinding even to Natsu.  ** _Retribution_**  was one of his most powerful spells, and who knew what effects it would have being used against Deliora like that. Taking advantage of the brightness, and counting on everyone being momentarily blinded, Natsu leapt up onto Deliora's body and bounded up the giant arm, onto the shoulder, and finally onto the skull.

Another quick look around, and Natsu muttered, " ** _End_**." The same black flames that had been used to take out Lullaby erupted from his fist and shot downwards into Deliora's skull, causing the beast below him to shriek as though hell itself was being ripped open. As quickly as he'd ascended onto Deliora's skull, Natsu leapt off it again, mind reeling at what he'd just done. After a moment, the flash cleared, and Natsu landed, feeling significantly more drained than before with a dull ache in his hand, and he watched as Deliora literally crumbled into dust before him.

"What? No way!" Lyon spluttered out from the side as Deliora's arms slid down into the water, followed by its head. "But that can't be!" The sound of shaky breathing, then, "Deliora was already dead!"

Natsu stared at the spot where Deliora had just been standing a moment ago, mind sluggish all of a sudden.

_It never gets any easier._

"For the last ten years, Ur has slowly drained the demon's life force," Lyon said, face in the ground. He sounded very defeated all of a sudden, and he smashed a fist into the ground, sending a spray of fine dust flying everywhere. "And what we just saw was nothing more than its last  _dying breath_." Another fist smash. "My dream is dead. There's no hope now."

"Maybe it's time to find a new dream, then," Natsu commented absently, head starting to ache massively. The stench of Deliora, with the ice gone, was almost overwhelming. He turned his head enough to glance at Lyon, still lying prone on the ground, looking utterly lost and defeated. "I don't think your Master would have wanted you to go chasing demons." He turned to Gray and grinned. "Your teacher was pretty awesome!" And he meant that wholeheartedly. To have sacrificed her life for her students, to have drained Deliora of its life… That was one truly awesome wizard.

Gray started tearing up, whether from happiness or sadness, Natsu couldn't tell. "You saved my life again," he choked out, hand over his eyes. "Thank you, Ur."

Natsu wandered over to him and awkwardly hovered around his shoulder, unable to do anything. Sure, they were friends, but Gray, like Natsu, was also a male, and it was a well-known fact at the guild that Males Didn't Do Affection. Still, after a moment, he awkwardly placed a hand on Gray's shoulder in what he hoped conveyed comfort. Judging by the small, watery smile he got in return, Gray understood the message. After a few more moments, the three of them slowly, and painfully, made their way out of the cavern. Natsu's eyes flicked towards where Ultear had landed during their altercation, but she was gone.

Outside, Laxus, Erza (what was she doing here anyway? Did Erza arrive with one of them and he just not notice?), Lucy and Happy were waiting for them. Somewhere further down, and looking warily at the Fairy Tail wizards, Natsu spotted Lyon's companions. Grinning, he made a beeline for his own comrades, energy momentarily restored.

"Hey, Lucy!" he greeted cheerfully, slinging an arm around her shoulders. A second later, he felt something small and furry smash into his other arm with a cry of, " _Natsu!_ "

"Hey, pal," he greeted Happy, relieved to see his best friend unharmed. He turned to Lucy excitedly, who seemed to be trying to work out a way to get out of his shoulder-hold. "I heard that you took out that pink-haired girl on your own! Awesome job!"

Lucy started, eyes widening and blushing slightly. "Oh no, it was nothing! Really!" she said quickly, suddenly breaking free of the hold and gesturing wildly, smiling awkwardly. She paused. "How did you find out about that?" she asked suspiciously, and Natsu rolled his eyes.

"I'm a great listener," he deadpanned, voice flat. Laxus just snorted but said nothing. Natsu opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by Gray's return to the group. He waved a greeting.

"Lyon seems to finally be getting his screwed back on straight," Gray informed them, sounding beyond relieved that the entire thing was over. Natsu couldn't blame him.

"So there's no chance that something like this will ever happen again?" Erza asked suspiciously, hand drifting near the hilt of her sword. Gray shook his head.

"None. I think he's learned his lesson." He turned back to Natsu, expression going uncharacteristically serious, even for Gray. "Natsu…" he started, sounding like he didn't know where to start. "Back down there, with Deliora. You said something that I can't stop thinking about." Natsu froze, blood freezing. "Something about deserving to die for Deliora's sins?"

Laxus gave Natsu a dangerous look that told him they'd be having words about that later. Everyone else looked confused, and quite concerned. Natsu sighed, running a hand through his hair. Well, he couldn't really keep this part of himself a secret forever, he supposed. They'd have to find out sooner or later.

"Okay," he said slowly, more to anchor himself than anything. "I told you before that Deliora is a demon of the Book of Zeref, right?" At the nods he got, he sighed and continued. "A demon of Zeref is called an Etherious, because it's made of pure magic." He paused again. Breathed deeply. "Which brings me onto my full name." He got three confused looks, and he barrelled on, wanting to get it over with. He stared down at the ground. "My full name is Etherious Natsu Dragneel, or E.N.D for short. Zeref only created the other demons so he could learn how to create me." He smiled, slightly bitter. "Well, he said  _create_  was an ugly word. I used to be human, you know? Zeref did all this just to resurrect me."

"Natsu…" Lucy began softly, uncertainly, but he continued talking. He needed to say one last thing before facing their judgement.

"It's my fault that the other demons even exist," he said, "so that's why I have to be the one to destroy them." He sighed again, and finally lifted his head to look at his comrades, more specifically at Gray. "If you don't want to be around me anymore, I totally understand – "

He was cut off from saying anything else as Gray abruptly punched him in the face, sending him flying backwards a few feet. It wasn't enough to knock him off his feet, but it was enough to stun him into silence. He looked at Gray's face, expecting to find anger, but instead found a steady calm, a strange acceptance.

"I don't care about any of that," he said, voice steady as solid ice. "I don't know what's going on in that ash-filled brain of yours, but it's not your fault that the other demons exist, or that Deliora happened. Deliora killed my parents,  _not you_." He glared at Natsu then, and Natsu was surprised by the intensity of it. "And I don't get to die for my friends,  _then neither do you!_ "

Struck dumb, face stinging from the punch, Natsu could only nod, stunned into silence. The silence stretched across the entire group for a moment, before Laxus decided to take action.

"Come on, idiots," Laxus grunted, moving forward and grabbing Natsu by the upper arm to steer him into walking. "We should get back to the villagers."


	19. Chapter 19

During the long walk back to the temporary area where the villagers were staying, the small group found themselves steadily moving slower as time went on, their movements becoming sluggish. Erza found herself taking the lead. The atmosphere, which had been so charged before, now felt drained, both from their various battles and from Natsu's revelation.

Erza's head had been going around in circles, making her lose her usual composure, albeit mentally. She'd never let it show, of course. Knowing that Natsu was linked to the same person who was responsible for the existence of the Tower of Heaven – which she knew to be called the R-System – felt like… Well, she didn't know what it felt like. Maybe a slap in the face? A dousing of ice cold water over her entire body? After her childhood in  _that_  place, it was very difficult to see anything of Zeref's as 'good'. How could anything of Zeref's be ' _good_ ', when whatever had been in the Tower of Heaven had taken away Jellal?

But then, hadn't she grown up with Natsu? She hadn't known about the… what had he called himself? Etherious? She hadn't known about all of that when they were children, when she was more damaged than she was now, and they were friends, weren't they? And Gray's family had been killed by another of Zeref's demons, and he knew the difference between true evil and Natsu. And it seemed that Laxus and Happy already knew about it, given their lack of reaction to it.

Erza mentally sighed, and she surreptitiously glanced back at the others over her shoulder. She knew Natsu hadn't changed, it was just her being paranoid.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, and she only eyed where they were when Lucy suddenly burst out, "Hey! Where is everyone?!" Erza looked around. They were back in the villagers' makeshift camp, where she'd first seen Gray, and she frowned. It seemed to be completely devoid of villagers, but all of the tents that they had been using were up and fine.

"Are you  _sure_  they came here?" Natsu asked dubiously, poking his head in one of the tent flaps. Lucy grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back out.

"No, they went to another one," Gray retorted waspishly, not looking at him.

"Then why did we come back here?!" Natsu demanded seriously, and Gray was in front of him within a second, glaring. Erza blinked, before scowling.

"Did Zeref replace your brains with ash when he resurrected you, or were you always this dumb?!" Gray demanded, looking for all the world like he wanted to punch Natsu in the face again. Natsu just gave him a look and walked past him, Looking ticked off, Gray's eyebrow twitched for a moment, before launching towards Natsu, yelling, " _NATSU!_ "

Before either of them could hit one another, Laxus stepped in and separated the two, looking very put out at having to play the impromptu wall again. He sighed, then gave the two a dark look. "We need to find the villagers now, and you two being –  _you two_  – isn't helping." Gray gave him a dirty look, and Natsu ignored him.

"Where do you think they could have gone?" Happy asked, on the subject of the seemingly missing villagers. He activated his Aeromagic and flew beside them as they started walking down the abandoned tents. He flew over to another part of the camp, and suddenly yelled, " ** _HELLO!_** "

"Try yelling louder. I don't think they heard you in Magnolia," Lucy griped, giving Happy a sidelong look. Gray walked past them into what Erza remembered to be the medical supplies tent.

"I'm gonna grab bandages and some medicine," he told them, looking back over his shoulder for a second as he quickly assessed them all. "Anyone need anything?"

Erza shook her head, and quickly inspected her former fighting partners. "We're all fine," she replied, and Gray turned his attention to Natsu. Or, more specifically, his hand. Erza eyed it as well, and she could see why Gray might say something about it. It looked as though Natsu had gone punching through mountains, leaving the skin red, raw and bloodied, with a fine trickle of blood slowly oozing from a gash near his knuckles.

"Natsu?" Gray tried, waving a bandage for emphasis. Natsu gave him a blank look, and in the corner of her eye, Erza saw Laxus sigh.

"What?" he asked, and Gray looked like he wanted to punch him once again.

"You need a bandage. For your hand," Gray informed him slowly, sounding as though he was speaking through gritted teeth and barely holding back his annoyance. Natsu glanced down at his hand and looked a bit surprised at the state of it, as though it was the first time he had noticed it.

"Don't worry about it," Natsu said airily, waving his good hand. "It's only a scratch."

Gray stared at him. "Your hand is half hanging off."

"Nah, it's fine, man. Dragon slayers heal really fast."

Gray opened his mouth, expression like he was about to argue against Natsu's claims about the mysterious qualities of dragon slayers – Erza couldn't really say either way. The only slayer she knew was Natsu, and he wasn't a good example for anything, slayer or otherwise. Before he could get a word out, though, a voice interrupted them from the side with, "You finally made it back!" They all turned as one to the voice, and found a villager, looking harried but relieved to see them. "There's something you need to see!" Erza glanced around at her comrades, and saw that they looked just as bemused as she was. "Please, follow me to the village!"

They all glanced at each other, a look passing between them, before turning back to the man and nodding quickly. A look of relief passed over the villager's face, and he turned and started to lead the group back through the trees. Erza lead them in silence, frowning at the ground every so often as she thought about the possibilities for why the villager had come to collect them. As far as she was aware, their village had been destroyed by Lyon's group, so why was he leading them back there?

The answer became blindingly obvious within a short time. Where there should have, Erza assumed, been smouldering ruins of a small village, there was instead a small, bustling village, packed full with the villagers she'd seen from the temporary camp she'd been in earlier. Erza stared, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see everyone else doing the same.

"What," Laxus said, not phrasing it as a question as he stared at the village, crossing his arms and looking unamused at the turn of events. Lucy looked around, wide-eyed.

"Whoa! Are you kidding me?!" she asked, sounding slightly breathless. Erza couldn't blame her. From how she'd described it, the village had been completely obliterated, leaving no trace of it behind, and beyond repair.

"What's going on here?" Natsu asked, walking over to a nearby house and banging on the wall. The resultant noise made them all cringe – Erza could just see Natsu accidentally breaking someone's wall in. A few seconds later, he stopped and looked way too thoughtful, so much so that Erza was worried. "It's like the village went back in time…" As soon as the words left his mouth, his expression became suspicious, but he said no more.

* * *

Lucy's eyes continued to dart around the newly restored houses as she wandered through the village, mind whirring with unanswered questions. She was heading over to the other side of the village, where their stuff had been left before they'd headed over to the temporary camp. Hopefully, that was still intact as well.

Her eyes widened as she approached the area, eyeing the chief kneeling before a familiar stone. "Bobo's grave has been restored," she murmured to herself. She stared for a moment, silent, then smiled. "I'm so glad. I'm sure the chief must be relieved, as well." She hovered for another moment, unsure of what to do, then slowly wandered over to the chief. At her approach, the chief turned and looked over his shoulder at her.

"You and your friends used magic used magic to restore our village, didn't you?" the chief questioned, and Lucy found herself at a loss of how to answer that. Whilst she could say that she and her friends had restored the village, she wouldn't feel right lying about it, and her mother had always taught her not to lie, after all…

"Ah, well, sir, that's not…" Lucy floundered, trying to find the words to convey her thoughts, but the chief spoke over her, saving her from the trouble.

"I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!" he said, standing up and facing her. Lucy stopped, staring at him in shock. The chief's expression became more intense. "However, I must know something.  ** _When are you wizards going to destroy the moon for us?!_** "

The sound of approaching footsteps averted both of their attentions to the side. "Destroying the moon is a simple task," Erza answered him, quite calmly and with a straight face. Lucy stared at her, only just managing to keep her jaw from dropping to the ground in a mix of exasperation and shock because.  _What. Was. Erza. Thinking?_  Judging by the looks on Gray's and Laxus's faces, they were having similar reservations about Erza's way of thinking, or lack thereof.

"What the – did she just say that with a straight face?" Gray asked, unintentionally voicing Lucy's thoughts aloud. Laxus continued to stare.

"That's it. She's gone. All of the She-Demon's beatings from when we were kids have finally taken their toll on her," he said, sounding the slightest bit shaken underneath the unimpressed demeanour. Who knew he had emotions besides rage and irritation?

"Aye. She seems to have gone crazy," Happy agreed with them both, hovering over Gray's shoulder worriedly. "I vote we give up Lucy as a sacrifice."

Lucy snapped her head around to glare at Happy. "Why am I the sacrifice?!" she demanded, hands on her hips, near to her whip in case she needed to send an irritating blue cat flying. "Wait! Why does there even need to  _be_  a sacrifice!?"

Happy just stared at her like he thought she was being dumb, and that made her even more annoyed. Like she was the stupid one when he was the one going on about sacrifices to Erza. "Because the Great God Erza has been angered and needs a sacrifice to appease her,  _duh_!" he explained helpfully. Lucy's eye twitched, and Laxus shot her a  _you see what I put up with in the name of friendship?_ look.

Erza continued on as though she hadn't heard them. Then again, knowing her, she probably hadn't. Lucy was beginning to suspect Erza had some form of selective hearing going on.. "But before I do that, I need to ask you all a few questions. Would you be so kind as to call everyone together for a meeting?" She asked it pleasantly enough, but the glint in her eye let everyone around her know that it wasn't a question, and the chief wasn't stupid enough to question that. Moving away from the gathered wizards, he hurried to gather the villagers together, ready to listen to whatever insane plan Erza had concocted.

Within maybe ten minutes, the entire population of the village was standing in the village centre, the wizards before them and Erza between them like a dividing line. Lucy noted that since Natsu had turned up again, he still looked thoughtful, like he couldn't figure something out.

"Yeesh, looking at you trying to think is just making my brain hurt," Gray said, wincing as he looked at Natsu and took in the expression. Without so much as a glance his way, Natsu absently flicked his hand towards Gray, sending a small burst of flames hurtling towards him. With a yelp, Gray dove out of the way, crashing to the ground, but still managing to end up with a singed shirt.

Lucy covered her mouth to keep from laughing.

" _You liiike him_ ," said a high, irritating voice in her ear, and Lucy screeched, jumping about five feet in the air in shock. She spun around, hand going to her whip, and scowled at the sight of a laughing blue cat. As her heart rate began to slow down again, Lucy mentally swore to get revenge on that scheming ball of fur one day.

"Let me make sure I have my facts straight," Erza said to the villagers, bringing them all back to reality. "The first time that everyone in the village began to take on demonic forms is when the moon began to turn purple. Is that correct?"

" _Natural_  demonic forms," Natsu quickly interrupted, smiling beatifically like interrupting Erza wasn't treading on thin ice.

"Yes," the chief nodded. "During the day, we fine, but when the moon comes out we transform into what you see now."

"If it's only when the moon comes out, that should mean that you're only demons for a couple of days out of the month though, right?" Laxus pointed out, shifting on his feet slightly. The villagers looked at each other, not saying anything. "It should be similar to cursed abilities like weretigers back on the mainland, who only transform under the moonlight." Again, no one said anything, and Laxus's irritation seemed to be growing. "Seriously, has no one ever heard of the Lunar Cycle?" He turned and looked at Lucy. "You like all that star crap. Please tell me you've heard of it, blondie."

Lucy stuttered at being put on the spot for such an odd question. "Well, yeah, of course – "

Laxus ran a hand over his face, "Thank Ishgar."

Timidly, a villager raised their hand. "Well, er, see, the moon is different on Galuna than on the mainland, Mister Lightning Sir."

Laxus's eye twitched, and he stared at the man for a long moment. "We have the same moon.  _It's the same moon everywhere_."

"Whether or not Galuna's moon is related to the mainland's moon," Erza continued on, casting Laxus a heated glare for interrupting her, "the moon first turned purple three years ago, right?" The villagers began murmuring their affirmations, and Erza continued, starting to pace. "We've learned that the Moon Drip ceremony has been performed on this island every night for the last three years. And each night it produced a beam of light that you couldn't possibly have missed it."

As she paced, she suddenly stepped on some leaves, and fell through the ground. Lucy, Laxus, Gray and Natsu all stared in horror as she fell into the pitfall that Lucy had created before their respective fights with Lyon's comrades, letting out a small, high pitched scream.

"She screamed… like a  _girl_ ," Laxus muttered, staring at the trap like he couldn't believe it was Erza who fell through.

"Yeah…. And it was  _cute_ ," Gray agreed, looking pained to be agreeing on it.

"I'm so gonna be dead!" Lucy wailed loudly – and not dramatically, thank you very much, slapping her hands to her face and not daring to look away from her failed pitfall trap. Of all the times for her trap to work, it had to be on Erza. Seconds later, Erza was pulling herself out of the trap, and she continued on as though nothing untoward had occurred. Lucy blinked, and she breathed a sigh of relief, thanking the universe for sparing her from Erza's wrath.

"Seriously, didn't you ever wonder where that light was coming from?" she asked, crossing her arms over her armoured torso. Lucy saw the villagers stare at her in shock, apparently not used to people just getting up out of pitfall traps like they were nothing. "I don't understand. Why didn't anyone investigate?"

The villagers began murmuring amongst themselves, looking distinctly uncomfortable, anxious muttering and flitted gazes threw between them. After a few tense seconds, the chief spoke up. "Well, we would have looked into it, but according to Village Lore, our people must  _never_  go near that temple."

In the corner of Lucy's eyes, she saw both Erza and Natsu frown for a second, and it almost made her laugh, despite the seriousness of the situation. She forced herself back into reality, just as Laxus grunted out, "If it were me, I wouldn't have cared about some old lore or rules. Not when my people are dying."

Lucy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you obviously knew that there was a problem. That's why you contacted the magic guilds."

The chief stared at them for another second, then looked back at the ground. "Oh, well…" he said, trailing off like he didn't want to say anything else. Erza stepped forward, expression both somehow gentle and stern.

"Why don't you tell us what's really going on here?" she asked softly. The chief looked uncomfortable for a moment, hesitating.

"To be honest," he began to answer, looking around at the villagers gathered around him, "we don't even know that ourselves." Erza's mouth was set in a single lined frown. "Allow me to explain," the chief started to clarify, gesticulating with his hands in the general direction of the temple. "We've tried to investigate the light many times. We take up weapons we've never had to use – I even trim and style my sideburns – and then we venture into the jungle towards the temple. But we could never get near it.

"We'd get close enough that we could see it through the trees, and then suddenly we'd find ourselves back at the village gates," the chief said, and Lucy felt a shiver go down her spine. Compulsively, she turned and looked at her companions. Erza was still frowning, looking thoughtful.

"But – how's that possible?" Lucy asked, turning back to the villagers in confusion. She'd never heard of a defensive spell like that in the books she'd read back in her childhood home, one that transports the intruders safely away from the protected area. "It doesn't make sense."

"Yeah, we got to the temple without any problem at all," Gray added. Lucy gave him a sidelong glare as she noticed that once again, he was shirtless again.

"We didn't say anything to you earlier because we were worried that you wouldn't believe us," another villager spoke up anxiously.

"We're telling you the truth."

"We've tried to go back to the temple other times since then, but no one has been able to get inside." More villagers spoke up, looking as harried as the first one did. Erza was still staring at them, and Lucy noticed that Natsu was staring at them as well, almost pensively.

"I get it. Yes," Erza said finally, voice slow and quiet. Natsu turned to her.

"You know now as well?" he asked cryptically, and Erza raised her eyebrows in surprise for a brief moment, before resuming her usual serious look. Her eyes glinted under the moonlight, giving them an almost dangerous look.

"How long have you – " she started to ask, before Natsu cut her off, stopping her from saying anything that might help Lucy and the others understand. Lucy felt her eyebrow twitch in irritation.

"Since we met them," he shrugged, like whatever they were talking about wasn't a big deal. Erza opened her mouth, and Natsu quickly said, "Dragon nose. Can't fool it." He tapped it teasingly, grinning away like an idiot.

Erza hummed for a moment, eyes distant, before turning back to the others. She regarded them for another minute, looking like she was doing some quick thinking, before turning on her heel and walking away. A light started to shine around her, the tell-tale sign that she was requipping into a different armour.

"Natsu," she said over her shoulder, giving him a look. Whatever they had been talking about before must have made more sense to him, because he immediately started to follow her, hands behind his head and strolling at a more leisurely pace. Lucy and the others stared after them, mouths agape.

"So they can't even tell us what they're doing, huh? Typical," Gray scowled, crossing his arms in a petulant manner.

The two wizards in question turned around at the end of their walk. Erza had finished requipping – the armour was something Lucy had never seen before, bulky and yellow and weighted-looking. The fur trimmings around the edges gave it an almost barbaric look.

"Obviously, we're gonna destroy the moon, icicle," Natsu grinned, slightly demonically as he lit a fist on fire for emphasis. Lucy stared at him, then at Erza, waiting for Erza to tell him that  _no, they can't destroy the moon_.

"As I said, destroying the moon is an easy task," Erza affirmed, and the four watchers immediately had their jaws drop to the ground.

"There is no way is not going to end badly," Laxus intoned, staring at them and taking a step backwards. Erza ignored them all and returned her attention to the villagers, who had been staring at them in shock.

"Destroying the moon is the only way to change the villagers back to their human forms," Erza said. The villagers stared at her, hope igniting in their eyes, then bursting like a firework. They began cheering at the prospect of turning back to their human forms and, despite herself, Lucy couldn't help but smile at that. Off to the side, she could hear Laxus mutinously muttering about the Lunar Cycle and 'the one moon'.

"I don't know what they're thinking," Gray said slowly, quietly enough so that even Natsu's hearing couldn't pick it up amongst the cheering.

"My Giant Armour increases my strength and allows me to throw further." She gestured to Natsu, who seemed to be off in his own world. "Natsu's firepower will boost the Spear of Haja, which repels darkness."

"So she's gonna use that spear to knock the moon outa the sky," Natsu said lightly, punctuating it with a yawn. Lucy stared at him in incredulousness.

"As if that's gonna work, flame brain," Gray glared at him. Natsu just gave him a lazy look back, shrugged, then returned his attention to Erza.

"When I'm about to throw the spear, Natsu will hit the back of it with his flames," Erza continued, as though she was talking battle strategies, and not  _knocking the moon out of the sky_. Lucy couldn't believe she was hearing Erza talking about destroying the moon with such a straight face. Maybe she'd hit her head in her fight with Pinkie harder than she thought, and she was sleeping, or concussed. "With the added boost of the flames, the spear will have enough power to reach the moon and destroy it."

The two – officially crazy – wizards nodded to each other, and began to walk off, some villagers following them.

"They don't really think they're gonna pull it off, do they?" Gray asked, staring at them like he was seeing them in a new, crazy light. Lucy felt the same way.

"I think they've both gone off the deep end," she muttered, watching them discuss their plan with the villagers. With a heavy sigh and a lot of hesitation, she moved towards her officially crazy friends, the sounds of her non-crazy friends following her giving her some comfort.

* * *

"What's the tallest structure in the village?" Erza asked, throwing the question out to anyone gathered in the crowd. The villagers looked at each other, seeming to do some quick thinking, before someone shouted out, " _The watch tower!_ "

"Could you take us there, please?" she asked, and the villager who answered quickly extracted himself from the crowd and started to lead them to wherever this watch tower was. Erza's thoughts flickered over the night's events, and the fleeting surprise she'd felt when it had turned out Natsu had also known what she'd realised about the villagers, and their true nature. Then again, she supposed, he was a demon himself, and a dragon slayer. It would make some sense that he would realise things before she did.

As the watch tower came into view, she stared up at it, sizing up the trajectory that would be needed for the spear to travel from them to the moon. As she finished her calculations, she felt the irritatingly familiar warmth of Natsu's transportation spell around her, then vanish a second later.

"Natsu," she growled, not caring that she was now on the watch tower and that she hadn't had to climb up the ladder in her Giant Armour, which would have been inconvenient. Natsu just shrugged unapologetically. Sighing, she turned back to the task at hand, looked back up at the moon to confirm her calculations were correct, and raised the spear over her shoulder. Taking the best stance for long distance throws, magic circles appeared around the spear, and, as it geared up to be thrown, she all but yelled out, " _NOW!_ "

She heard Natsu's elated laugh behind her, felt the blistering heat of his flames even through her armour. Almost immediately, the roof above them exploded, leaving particles of white dust to cover their hair and shoulders, and Erza threw it as far as it would go towards the moon, trails of crimson fire boosting it onwards many times over. There was no doubt in her mind that the spear wouldn't make it.

"Holy shit," she heard Natsu mutter from the side. Ordinarily, she would have reprimanded him for his language, but she didn't bother this time. Not when she was thinking the same thing.

The spear seemed to speed up the closer it got to its target, and Erza stared at it intensely, narrowing her eyes as the spear  _finally_  made contact with the moon. Upon that contact, there were cheers from below as the villagers celebrated the oncoming destruction of the moon, and it looked like a small burst of light was shining out. A crack appeared across it, followed by another one. The cracks formed a giant spider web across it, and when the cracks reached the sky, the cheers below abruptly stopped. The confusion was rising off of them in waves, like steam off of a warm bath, and it was palpable even from the height Erza was at.

Finally, under the combined pressure of the spear pushing at it, and the cracks still spreading outwards, the sky shattered above them. Small, purple sparkles rained down on them, leaving a clear sky in their wake, and a white moon in the place of the purple moon.

"I never thought I'd see someone shatter the sky before," Natsu laughed, wrapping an arm around Erza's shoulders as they stared up at the sky. The particles of magic continued to rain down on them as the shell that once covered the island slowly broke apart. Natsu glanced at her and grinned. "Knew you had it in ya!"

Erza hummed, giving him a smile in return. After a few moments of simply watching the chaos from above, of people trying to figure out what was going on, the two of them descended into the fray – Erza opting to take the ladder, despite the Giant Armour. As soon as they were there, they were immediately surrounded by the questioning villagers and their comrades.

"What was that?" Gray demanded, pointing up at the sky. Erza glanced up as well. The last remnants of the barrier were breaking away, and she looked back towards the gathered people before her.

"That was merely a shell, of sorts, that covered the island," she explained, trying to keep it as simple as possible so everyone could understand. "As a result of the spell, a noxious membrane was covering the island – the Moon Drip released evil energy in the form of a gas. It then crystallised and formed an invisible shell in the sky that covered the island. That's why the moon appeared to be purple."

As she stopped her explanation of the purple moon, the villagers all began to be surrounded with a golden light. It reminded her of Lucy's celestial spirits, in a way. Which, she supposed, was fair, considering it seemed to be connected to the moon, and Lucy's magic was connected to the stars. The villagers were excitedly murmuring amongst themselves, the prospects of turning human again too much to bear.

"Now that the shell has been broken, everything will go back to how it was three years ago," she finished, just as the golden light engulfed them all. A brief second later, the golden light faded, and to Erza's lack of surprise, the villagers remained unchanged, still standing in their demon forms.

"What's wrong? They're not transforming!" Gray said, looking between the villagers and Erza, eyebrows furrowed.

" _These_  are their true forms, dummy," Natsu said lazily, glancing over at Gray with a  _well, duh_  expression. Gray stared at him, looking prepared to contradict him – and fight him – so Erza stepped forward, requipping into her normal, comfortable armour as she did so.

"The Moon Drip never had any effect on their appearance," Erza confirmed, nodding and smiling slightly. "Although it seems to have altered their memories."

"What – what do you mean?" Lucy asked, looking very apprehensively between Erza and the villagers, as though she'd rather not know the answer.

"They think they're humans who have been transformed into demons," Erza supplied. "But it's the other way around."

Gray looked at them, then back at the villagers, as the information sunk in. "So you mean that they're all…" he trailed off uncertainly.

"Yep!" Natsu grinned enthusiastically, bounding over to them. "The reason why they all looked human when you met them is because they're natural demons – meaning that they have the ability to look human!"

"Indeed," Erza nodded. She turned to the villagers, who seemed to be trying to process the information that was suddenly being thrown at them. She could understand that feeling. "Your false memories lead you to believe that your false forms were actually your true forms. In reality, you were demons who had fallen victim to the Moon Drip's side effects."

"So how come Lyon and the others didn't suffer any side effects?" Lucy asked inquisitively.

"I assume it's because they're human," Erza answered, thinking on what the villagers had said previously. "As far as I can tell, demons are the only ones affected. I knew what was going on as soon as the chief said that you couldn't go near the temple. The moonlight collected there was sacred, therefore creatures of darkness couldn't go near it."

There was a moment of silence as Erza let that sink in, and her thoughts drifted to Natsu again. She had just said it herself – creatures of darkness couldn't go near the temple because it was sacred, and yet he had been all over it, despite his self-proclaimed demon status, and the fact that he had been resurrected by Zeref. Had Zeref done something to make him a non-creature of darkness, despite being a demon? Was there such a thing as that? With her thoughts in such a whirlwind, Erza nearly jumped out of her skin when a voice said, "You're quite the detectives."

Erza, and her friends, spun around. Behind them was someone she, and apparently Natsu and Laxus, had never seen before. Judging by Lucy and Gray's faces, though, they knew of him. They looked like they'd seen a ghost. "Thanks, wizards! I owe ya one!" The new  _someone_  was another demon wearing a cloak, currently waving at them with a beaming smile in place.

Natsu stared at him, eyes narrowed. "Do I know you?" he asked suspiciously. The demon glanced his way, and Natsu sniffed the air. Lucy let out an alarmed yelp, and Natsu crowed victoriously. "I  _do_ know you! You were that guy who told me about this place! I knew that there was something off about your scent!"

The demon stared at him for a long moment, before Laxus just sighed and said, "Don't even bother."

"You're the guy from the boat!" Gray shouted accusingly, pointing at him. Erza looked between them questioningly, sensing a story coming up. She'd never heard how Lucy and Gray had managed to get onto Galuna Island.

"Bobo…" Erza snapped her head at the sound of the chief's broken murmur.

"But I thought you were – " another villager stuttered out, but the unknown demon, Bobo apparently, started laughing and covered his chest for a second.

"Getting stabbed in the chest hurt pretty badly, but you gotta do more than that to kill a demon!" he said loudly, laughing again. To the side, Erza heard Natsu laugh quietly in what seemed to be agreement. Bobo then transitioned into telling his tale about how he didn't have any memory loss from the effects of the Moon Drip and how he had to leave because everyone else was driving him insane, explaining how he'd been able to fool Lucy and Gray into thinking he'd vanished into thin air (he had wings). Bearing witness to the touching reunion between Bobo and his father tugged at her heartstrings, and before Erza knew it, she and her comrades were being dragged along for a celebration, a feast hosted by the villagers.

"There's one thing I still don't get," Gray said, when their small group was out of earshot of the excited villagers, frowning away. He looked at Natsu. "They couldn't go near the temple because they're demons, right?" Natsu nodded. "So how come you could?"

Natsu stared at him like he thought Gray was stupid, and the offence showed on Gray's face. "I thought we already went over this before?" he asked, looking around at them all. When no one answered, he let out a long suffering sigh and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, " _No wonder big brother hates people_." He flicked his eyes back to Gray and let out an exaggerated breath and said, "They're natural demons. I'm an Etherious, a creature that Zeref made from magic particles. Except I have a human body and dragon slaying abilities, like my dragon lungs." He paused for a moment. "I'm not a 'true' demon like they all are. Completely difference species."

Erza nodded, understanding now. At least that was one question that had been plaguing her answered. As the villagers came back for them and swept them up in the festivities – and later, Lyon's comrades as they came by to apologise, as Natsu's infective nature was hard to avoid – Erza couldn't help but smile for the entire night. There were few times when she could let loose with her friends, and she felt that this was one of those few precious times, a memory that she would cherish.

(And it wouldn't hurt to let Gray and Lucy have some fun before dragging them back to Magnolia.)

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know your thoughts?
> 
> Here's the general premise of the story: Natsu is aware that he's a demon, is aware that he's Zeref's brother and knows that Zeref's alive and all that, so has greater powers than in canon. And while he's slightly more logical, he's still. Well. Natsu. It follows canon, but also strays a bit whilst it does if that makes sense?


End file.
